Police investigating after a small boy was allegedly pulled from his bicycle into a black van during rush hour in Redhill, Surrey yesterday evening have discounted a van they initially believed to be involved.
While there are no reports of a missing child in the area, witnesses say the little boy, described as white, aged around six and about 4ft in height and dressed in a red t-shirt and blue jeans, was grabbed by an individual in a lack VW Transporter.
The child’s bicycle was left abandoned on the footpath.
If anyone recognises this mountain bike from #RedstoneHill or #Redhill to contact us on 101 re ‘Op Bigfoot’ pic.twitter.com/gp7T0gatxE
— Surrey Police (@SurreyPolice) August 26, 2016
Detectives appealed for more witnesses who may have seen a black modified VW Transporter with “02 plate, no side writing or rear windows, w sliding doors & chrome sidesteps, 3 BBS alloys”.
Now however, the van they had initially flagged in CCTV footage has been discounted. A spokesman for the police confirmed that ‘Operation Bigfoot’ continues, with both officers and police dogs hunting for any sign of the child.
He told the Express:
“Although the black van from the CCTV footage has been found and discounted, the description of the van from the passerby still remains.
“We have to treat reports like these extremely seriously but we have not yet received any missing child reports – and that is locally as well as nationally.
“We deployed police dogs and helicopter last night. The helicopter is not out today, but there is still a large-scale operation, involving a significant number of officers chasing up a number of leads.”
If anyone recognises this mountain bike from #RedstoneHill or #Redhill to contact us on 999 re ‘Op Bigfoot’ pic.twitter.com/BC3aQUUxuS
— Surrey Police (@SurreyPolice) August 26, 2016
The unidentified child was last seen by a member of the public in Redstone Hill at approximately 4.45pm.
