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Kidnapped French girl found in Switzerland

An eight-year-old girl who was kidnapped in eastern France last Tuesday from the care of her grandmother has been found in Switzerland, where her mother was arrested.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

An eight-year-old girl who was kidnapped in eastern France on Tuesday has been found with her mother in Switzerland, reports BBC News.

The girl was in good health after being found in an abandoned factory in the border village of Sainte-Croix, French prosecutor François Pérain said.

Her mother, Lola Montemaggi, was taken into Swiss police custody.

Officials say she ordered the abduction of the girl, of whom she no longer had custody, from her grandmother's home.

Authorities previously said the girl had been abducted in Poulières, in the Vosges area, by three men who handed her over to her mother 20 minutes later. No violence was used.

On Sunday, Mr Pérain said investigators determined that mother and daughter entered Switzerland on the day of the kidnapping and spent the night in a hotel in Estavayer-le-Lac, near the border with France

They then went to the nearby town of Neuchâtel, where a woman hosted them for another night. On the following day, Mr Pérain added, they were taken to the factory.

The girl will now be reunited with her grandmother.

Five men had already been arrested accused of involvement in the case, including three who allegedly carried out the kidnapping. Local prosecutor Nicolas Heitz said while one suspect waited in the car, two approached the grandmother pretending to be child protection officers.

A search of the home of one of the suspects in Paris revealed a prepared script to be read to the grandmother, as well as a Citroën C15 minivan said to have been identified by witnesses.

Read more of this report from BBC News.