A teenage boy was reunited with his parents in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Saturday after being kidnapped from their home as an infant, ending a 15-year search by his family.
The boy was taken in 2005 – one of nine children abducted by a gang in Guangdong province around that time. In recent years the case has drawn attention on Chinese social media, particularly the alleged involvement of a shadowy go-between known as “Aunt Mei”, but Guangzhou police stressed there was no evidence such a person existed.
Police said 16-year-old Shen Cong had been found on Wednesday in Meizhou, a city about 400km (250 miles) away. DNA testing confirmed he was the missing child and police arranged the reunion with his parents, Shen Junliang and his wife, who was identified as Yu in the statement.
Police did not say what had led to the discovery of the boy, but they said his foster parents had been taken in for questioning.
His biological father Shen Junliang on Sunday said they were overjoyed to have their son back home, adding that he was healthy and a tall boy who loved sports.
“Before I met my son I’d been imagining what it would be like to talk to him. I didn’t think he would be this mature – he seems more mature than his peers and he has good manners,” the father wrote on Weibo, China’s Twitter. “We’ve spent the entire time together, from Saturday night until now. We’re getting along and he’s happy too.”
The parents are now getting to know their son, having not seen him since he was abducted from their rented flat in Zengcheng district on January 4, 2005.
That day, the child had been at home with his mother while his father was at work. Shen Junliang has alleged that two of their neighbours led two strangers into the flat at about 10.40am, and the two strangers drugged and tied up Yu before kidnapping the one-year-old boy.
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Shen Junliang had been searching for his boy ever since. He gave up his job and has travelled all over Guangdong province looking for him. He had more than 1 million posters printed with photos and a description of his son, offering a reward of 100,000 yuan (US$14,400) for any information on the case.
One of them read: “Shen Cong has birthmarks on the toe of his left foot, his right buttock and his right thigh. Anyone who has any leads … please contact me or Guangzhou police.”
He started posting about the case on Weibo in 2016, sharing every piece of news related to the kidnap and appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
In March that year, there was a development, with police arresting five suspects in the case.
Police said the lead suspect, Zhang Weiping, had confessed to selling Shen Cong to a couple in Heyuan, another city in Guangdong, for 13,000 yuan on January 6, 2005.
Zhang told police that an intermediary nicknamed Aunt Mei had been involved in that deal and the sale of eight other boys in the province from 2003 to 2005.
Zhang and another gang member were sentenced to death for kidnapping children in 2018, two others were jailed for life, and a fifth person was jailed for 10 years.
Two of the other boys who had been abducted were found by police last year.
But Guangzhou police said they had not found any information leading them to the mysterious woman – apparently in her 60s and a Cantonese and Hakka speaker – Zhang alleged was the go-between.
“Police have checked all the details, all the people and places related to Zhang’s confession,” the statement said. “We’ve also received reports from people all over China since 2017 about Aunt Mei, but so far none of these tips have proved to be true.”
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