Police offer hefty reward for information on missing infant

Police in north China's Hebei Province on Tuesday offered a 100,000-yuan (about $16,000) reward for tips leading to the location of an infant who was stolen from his home.

The two-and-a-half-month-old boy was taken from his home in Kangbao County, Hebei at around 8 p.m. on May 31 while his mother left the house to take out trash.

Jin Man, deputy head of the Kangbao Public Security Bureau, said that police have visited the neighborhood and checked tapes from nearby surveillance cameras, but so far found no information leading to the whereabouts of the infant.

The boy's mother is a homemaker, and the father is a truck driver. The family has lived in the neighborhood for five years and has good relations with the community.

The mother told police that she was out of the house for several minutes to throw away trash when she was at home alone with the baby, and she then lingered in the front yard for a while as she did not hear the baby's crying. She entered the room and found the infant missing.

Police have put the boy's photo on the Internet with the parents' description of the boy's distinguishing marks on his body for the public to help search for the missing child.

The case has triggered wide public concern online. Netizens have speculated that the boy was stolen by child traffickers, and were shocked that children are not even safe in their own homes.