Four masked men entered the apartment, armed with pistols, according to official sources. Upon entering, they threatened to kill the occupants, as reported by SVT Nyheter. The men assaulted and bound Sara and her husband with cable ties and tape over their faces, and forced them to each swallow a pill, which was later found to be a narcotics-classified sleeping medication, official sources said.
The men left with the screaming two-year-old. In connection with the incident, the child's mother and another person were allegedly assaulted, tied up, and forced to eat narcotics-classified medication, Aftonbladet reports. Sara identified her ex-husband, the child's father, as one of the perpetrators in her first police interview, recognizing him by his eyes, according to SVT Nyheter.
Sara and her family had been living with protected identity and she had sole custody, official sources said. The ex-husband, aged around 35, had been surveilling Sara and her family for several months, including placing an AirTag in her car, and his girlfriend, a woman aged around 25, visited Sara at her home, during which the child's passport and keys disappeared, according to official sources. Police received an alarm in November about several people breaking into an apartment in central Jönköping and kidnapping a child, official sources said.
I recognized him by his eyes.
Police quickly identified the ex-husband and the rental car he was driving using CCTV in the area. Hours later, the car was detected crossing the Öresund Bridge, and it was parked shortly before 6 AM, with both the child and the girlfriend present. The couple was arrested by Danish police, and flight tickets to Kuwait with departure at 08:35 were found, just hours after the abduction, according to official sources.
The girlfriend claims she did not know about the plans to kidnap the child and was afraid of her boyfriend. However, the police investigation shows the girlfriend had several opportunities to interrupt and leave but did not do so, official sources said. The ex-husband claims he was tricked into taking care of his daughter and that Sara's new husband arranged for her to be handed over to him.
The ex-husband had contact with several of Sara's relatives and received some support from them, according to official sources.