31 Oct 2014

American boy well cared for on Niue - police

2:24 pm on 31 October 2014

Niue's police chief says a nine-year old American boy allegedly abducted by his father and taken to sea from Seattle is well and being looked after by locals.

Tony Edwards says the island's police took the boy's father, Jeffrey Ford Hanson, into custody after he failed to clear customs properly.

He says they quickly connected him with the suspect in an FBI Pacific wide search for a man who had sailed with his son on board and had not been seen in two months.

The man is facing an FBI charge of international parental kidnapping.

Mr Edwards says Niue is still to work out where it will charge Mr Hanson, but says police are working with the FBI and the Pacific Trans-national Crime Unit in Samoa.

He says the boy, Billy Hanson, is being well looked after.

"Ah the boy at the moment is being looked after by one of the locals on Niue. He's been well looked after since his arrival and then hopefully we will get to the end of it. So he's in good hands at the moment."