Three French citizens held for kidnapping girl in Serbia

They were arrested on Friday after kidnapping a two-year-old girl in the capital Belgrade.

AFP PHOTO / ANDREJ ISAKOVIC

According to the police, a man snatched the girl from her mother's arms on the street around noon and fled in a car driven by a woman.

Police used cars and helicopters in a sensational chase that went on for some three hours.

The Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said that the police managed to stop the vehicle with French number plates after it crashed through a ramp at pay toll some 30 kilometres northwest of Belgrade.

Stefanovic added that the kidnappers had French passports so we immediately contacted the French police and learnt that the documents were valid and persons were known to the police there as they had committed a number of crimes before.

He said the motive and whether they targeted a particular child was unclear. They had on them the passport of a French child of a similar age.

In a separate statement, the interior ministry said they were suspected to be human traffickers.

If they are tried in Serbia and convicted, they face up to a 15-year jail term.