01/02/2024 8:04 pm (current 01/02/2024 8:10 pm)
After the alleged kidnapping of two children of the heiress of a steakhouse chain, Christina Block, in Denmark, the children are doing well, according to their mother. The children were with her, Block said through a company spokeswoman on Tuesday. It was unclear exactly where the children were. Danish police believed the incident on New Year's Eve was related to a custody dispute between the children's parents.
“The children are safe. I ask for your understanding not to make any further statements at this time, especially out of concern for the well-being of my children,” the spokeswoman's statement said.
The Hamburg Public Prosecutor's Office had previously assumed that the children were in their mother's care. “There are currently no concrete indications that there is a danger to children,” a spokeswoman for the authority said at midday.
According to Danish police, the father was attacked near a restaurant on New Year's Eve while watching the New Year's Eve fireworks with his two children in the town of Gråsten (Gravenstein). The two children, reportedly a ten-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, were forced into a car. He is being investigated for bodily harm and deprivation of liberty.
The perpetrators fled in two cars with German license plates. The two vehicles were found in Germany by German police, Danish police said on Tuesday afternoon. She did not give further details.
Hamburg police said the facts were known and were the subject of ongoing investigations. “Further information cannot be provided at this time as the investigation is just beginning,” he said.
The Block Group, with around 2,400 employees, is best known for the Block House steakhouse chain and the five-star Grand Elysée hotel in Hamburg. There is a steakhouse on the Naschmarkt in Vienna, among others.