Another international family abduction is making headlines all over Cyprus, this time after a little girl boarded a plane in Larnaca with her father against a court order in the north, just one day before another girl in the south was kidnapped in a custody battle.
According to online daily Kibris, who broke the story on Friday, a Turkish Cypriot father crossed a checkpoint from north to south on April 26, along with his little girl aged three and a half as well as the child’s grandmother.
Police in the south told the Cyprus Weekly that all three boarded a flight to the UK on Wednesday at 6:02pm, with the father and the girl travelling on British passports.
According to a police spokesperson, officials received notification after the plane had departed Larnaca International Airport.
Sources in the north told CW that it was not clear when exactly the mother filed a complaint with Turkish Cypriot authorities, but official notice was sent immediately from north to south as soon as the bi-communal crime committee was notified on Thursday.
The parents of the little girl are separated according to media reports in the north, with the mother having custody. But it is understood that they crossed the checkpoint lawfully. Authorities in the south have placed the father and grandmother on the Stop List.
The abduction comes in the same week as another custody battle is being fought between Cyprus and Norway, after a kidnapping took place outside a south Nicosia nursery on Thursday morning.
A Norwegain estranged 49-year-old father of a four-year-old girl is believed to be behind the kidnapping, when hooded men snatched her out of her mother’s hands. The father, who was seen in the north according to unconfirmed reports, reportedly emailed the mother to inform her that she was safe and well and that he would soon be taking her to Norway with him.
The father argues that the Cypriot mother of his daughter took custody of their child unlawfully.
An international arrest warrant has been issued against the Norwegian by police in Cyprus.
