The Lower Saxony police announced a new search operation this week to find Arian, Die Welt and the public broadcasting service NDR reported this Monday. This child, aged 6 and autistic, has been missing since April 22. He left his parents’ house in Bremervörde-Elm in Lower Saxony, Germany, in his socks, and never returned. Footage from a private surveillance camera shows the 6-year-old walking alone towards a forest. Since then, no trace of Arian.
Following his disappearance, a large search operation was launched, with hundreds of law enforcement officers, search dogs, a team of horsemen, drones, a Tornado plane, an amphibious vehicle, boats and mobilized divers. But Arian was nowhere to be found. Research made all the more difficult by the fact that the autistic boy does not react when spoken to. At the end of April, police announced the end of active searches. A group of five investigators continues to evaluate the clues and traces, in order to carry out more targeted searches.
On Tuesday, May 7, the police again carried out searches on the banks of the Oste river following a tip from a woman. According to the police, she discovered an object floating in the Oste in a livestream of the river. Helicopters and search dogs were deployed but nothing was found.
“We do not understand that the boy was not found somewhere,” police spokesman Heiner van der Werp told Deutsche Presse Agentur on Monday. The new research operation promises to be smaller in scale than the first. The police spokesperson explained that the search will revolve around the Oste river, which will be scrutinized. “We will also use technical means,” he said. According to van der Werp, several intervention forces, boats and helicopters will be deployed. Residents of the municipality of Bremervörde-Elm and its surrounding areas will also be interviewed.
At the moment, investigations are continuing in all directions. A preferred avenue is that of the accident. It is possible, according to investigators, that Arian fell into the Oste river and drifted to the North Sea. However, the hypothesis of kidnapping has not been ruled out, said the police spokesperson.
