VietNamNet Bridge – A number of kidnapping cases have stirred concern over child safety in the country’s cities.

Police rescue a kidnapped child

On November 7, 2015, a child was playing with his cousin on Hanoi's Tay Tra Street when a man grabbed him and escaped on motorbike. His father said the kidnapper demanded a VND20m ransom. The police rescued the child and discovered that the kidnapper was a relative.

Other cases have also occurred in recent years.

In January 2014, a new-born baby boy was kidnapped from General Hospital in in HCM City. Four days later, the kidnapper turned herself in together with the baby after police surrounded her house. The kidnapper said she stole the child because she couldn't have one herself.

Also in 2014, a mother carrying a three-year-old child was hit by another motorbike and fell on the street. When the mother was unconscious, the man grabbed the child and drove away. Luckily the husband was not far behind and prevented the kidnapping.

Colonel Tran The Huong of the People's Police Academy said there were about 20,000 cases related to child abuse annually, including some 50 kidnapping and ransom cases. However, as the amount of money increases each year, cases are also becoming increasingly dangerous, he said.

The kidnapping problem has been a serious problem across several provinces in both China and Vietnam. Early this year, a court in China upheld the death sentence against the ringleader of a kidnapping group convicted of smuggling and selling 22 babies from Vietnam to China. They often went to hospital to kidnap babies and sold them for up to USD10,000.

According to Vietnam's Penal Code, those who trade in, fraudulently exchange or kidnap children can be sentenced to between three and 20 years of imprisonment.

DTriNews