Boy escapes kidnappers
A 12-year-old boy was found safe and sound in an abandoned car in northern Athens yesterday just hours after being abducted by three men who had demanded a 1-million-euro ransom to release the child, police said. The boy was snatched at around 8 a.m. as he was on his way to school in the northern suburb of Pefki. A man called the child’s father, a contractor, shortly afterward and demanded the ransom. Police were alerted and began to search for the kidnappers. Shortly after noon, residents of an apartment block in Nea Philadelphia contacted authorities to say they had found the dazed boy in a car outside the building. The 12-year-old told officers that his abductors gave him two sleeping tablets, put a hood over his head and bound his hands with tape. When the child came to, he was on his own in the car and managed to free his hands, remove the hood and alert residents. Police were last night looking for the three kidnappers.
