A three-year-old boy from Ho Chi Minh City has been safely returned to his family after he was abducted and brought into China by a Taiwanese man, who was a friend of his mother’s.

The victim, K., was handed on Friday back to Vietnamese authorities by China’s Dongxing City Police through Mong Cai Border Gate in northern Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province.

The three-year-old and his mother Nguyen Gia Bao, also known as Nguyen Thi Doan Trang, 33, reside on Nguyen Huu Canh Street in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City.

According to police files, Bao invited Taiwanese man Chuang Kuo Jen, a long-time acquaintance of hers and a master of feng shui, the Asian practice that discusses architecture in harmony with the surrounding environment,  to ‘read’ the headquarters of her company on December 2.

The same evening, Bao and K. were seeing the feng shui master off at his hotel on Vo Truong Toan Street in District 2 when Chuang suggested that K. be left in his care for the night so he could hang out with the boy the day after.

Confident in her long-time friend, Bao agreed to the suggestion.

On December 4, Bao returned to the hotel to pick up her son only to learn from the hotel staff that Chuang had checked out on the night of December 2 together with her son.

The Taiwanese kidnapper reportedly used a fake birth certificate for K., asking a Vietnamese accomplice, Le Tran Xuan Thy, to play as the boy’s mother.

Chuang managed to fly K. to Hanoi before crossing illegally into China through unofficial ways.

Upon learning of her son’s abduction, Bao reported it to Vietnamese police, who worked with their Chinese counterparts to identify the kidnappers and locate the missing boy.

K. was later found in a neighborhood in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, and was rescued by Chinese authorities.

A further investigation into the case is being carried out by Vietnam’s Criminal Police.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!