The first AMBER Alert ever launched in Luxembourg, was issued on Tuesday, June 26th, in response to a violent parental abduction of a young child.
Seven-year old Max was kidnapped in the early hours of Tuesday morning in front of his school in Rollingergrund, an area of north-western Luxembourg City in the south of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
At 8 am the boy was abducted forcefully by his father, who is considered to be dangerous because of a mental disorder. Max was taken in a grey Honda, which was parked in the vicinity of the school. Many bystanders witnessed the abduction.
Luxembourg’s judicial police inquiry immediately focused on the whereabouts of father and son. At 11:30am, the judicial public prosecutor agreed to notify the population by launching an AMBER Alert with specific details and photos of the boy, the father and the vehicle.
The notification was spread via media, social media and on billboards and traffic boards nearby Luxembourg’s main highways. Simultaneously, a European arrest warrant was issued against the father of the boy.
At 9 pm. that same day, Luxembourg police was able to locate father and child in France, in the city of Villerupt nearby the Luxembourg border. Max could safely be reunited with his mother. The father was arrested by French police officers and extradited to his home country, where he will face criminal charges.
The Luxembourg AMBER Alert reached approximately 300.000 inhabitants via Facebook and Twitter. Response by public and press about the first AMBER Alert in this country was very positive.