An 11-year-old boy has been abducted and sexually assaulted in an horrific four-hour ordeal in West Auckland.
Waitemata Police say the boy got off a train at Ranui Station around 3.55pm on Thursday and starting walking to his home along Ranui Station Rd when he was abducted by a man in a grey van.
Police say the man asked the boy for directions before driving him to an unknown location and sexually assaulting him.
The man then drove the boy back to Ranui and let him go. Police say the schoolboy arrived home four hours later at 8pm.
He was recovering at home with his family on Friday.
``Police and Victim Support are doing everything we can to support them,'' said Detective Senior Sergeant Jason McIntosh.
``The victim has undergone a medical examination and specialist child interviewers are expected to speak with him today.''
McIntosh said after that they hoped to have more details about the circumstances and a description of the person police were seeking.
``This is a very sensitive process though and at this stage we have limited information about the offender - he has been described as driving a grey van, was by himself, and had stopped the boy to ask for directions,'' said McIntosh.
``We are treating this as a priority investigation and CIB Detectives, as well as Detectives from the Child Protection Team, are working on this investigation.''
Police said extra patrols were now in the area and appealed urgently for information about the grey van.
They were now poring over security camera footage to track down the man.
``We are making a range of inquiries and this includes the gathering and review of CCTV footage in that area,'' said McIntosh.
``I know that this will be alarming to the West Auckland community and I'd like to reassure people that we will have extra patrols in the area over the next few days.
``We do need to hear from anyone who has information about that grey van though.''
An alert would be issued to all schools in the area advising pupils to be vigilant.
McIntosh said he would be contacting the Ministry of Education to notify all principals in the area to warn youngsters to be careful.
McIntosh said a number of school children would be interviewed in the hunt for the attacker.
``There were other children around at the time,'' he said.
``From CCTV footage at the train station we see that a group of schoolchildren got off the train at Ranui before the abduction took place.''
He said when the boy failed to arrive home after school his concerned family contacted police and he was reported as a missing person.
There were still scant details about the man who snatched the boy.
Police hoped to get a fuller description once they interviewed the youngster.
It was also unclear where the attack took place.
Ranui is a semi-rural western suburb bordering the Waitakere Ranges.
McIntosh asked anyone with information to contact him on (021) 191-2659 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555-111.
