International hunt for boy, 5, ‘abducted by human traffickers 12 days ago’
Fears are mounting that a boy who disappeared without a trace 12 days ago may be in the hands of human traffickers in Argentina.
Loan Danilo Pena, aged five, vanished in the province of Corrientes, around 450 miles north of the city of Buenos Aires.
He was last seen on June 13, near the district of Gota, when the three adults and three children he was with lost sight of him.
Despite an extensive search operation, there are still no leads in the case that has gripped the nation.
President Javier Milei dispatched security minister Patricia Bullrich to the north on Tuesday to lead the search.
Her trip comes as police are now probing if the boy may have been abducted and trafficked across the border into Paraguay.
Bullrich also confirmed this is a line in the investigation, telling Argentinian media: ‘Loan’s case concerns all Argentines and hopefully it has a happy ending, but it needs to clear up.
‘These are going to be difficult days because the investigation will be confidential, including hard sanctions to anyone who spreads information, which can put the investigation in danger and above all, Loan’s life.’
BA Times reported that drones, night-vision cameras, planes and paragliders have been deployed as part of ‘the biggest search in the province’s recent history’.
Corrientes province governor Gustavo Valdés told a press conference on Monday: ‘We believe we should already be talking of a possible trafficking case.
‘We won’t take this lying down, and we will continue to investigate to get to the truth, and to know what happened to this missing child.’
Authorities in Argentina are focused on the human-trafficking angle, but are still working under the hypothesis that the child got lost in a nearby orange grove and got separated from the main group.
Three adults – Loan’s uncle and a couple – have been charged with abandonment and were arrested last week.
A municipal official, her husband, a former naval officer and a local police chief have also been detained as part of the investigation.
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