After the alleged kidnapping of a four-year-old girl from a camping tent in Australia, the authorities offered a reward of one million Australian dollars (644,000 euros) for clues.
Little Cleo Smith has been missing since last Saturday.
She and her family had stayed at a campsite in the state of Western Australia.
On Saturday morning, the mother found that the girl was no longer there.
The tent, in which there were two separate parts, stood open on the side where the child had slept.
Investigators fear kidnapping because the zipper was pulled up to a height beyond the reach of a four-year-old child.
The girl's sleeping bag was also gone.
Till Fähnders
Political Correspondent for Southeast Asia.
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A large-scale search operation with more than a hundred officers on land, from the air and at sea had so far been unsuccessful.
"We hope we can find Cleo alive, but we are very concerned about her safety," said Detective Inspector Rod Wilde, according to ABC.
“The information we gathered on site and the fact that it has been gone for some time.
.
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leads us to believe that she was taken out of the tent. ”The reward would be given for clues that led to Cleo or the imprisonment or conviction of a possible kidnapper.
“Someone has the knowledge that can be helpful.
And now there are a million reasons to get in touch, ”said Police Commissioner Col Blanch.
The child's distraught parents had spoken to the public at a press conference on Wednesday.
The evening before, the family had arrived at the campsite around 1000 kilometers from Perth and 70 kilometers from Carnarvon, in the family's home region.
According to mother Ellie Smith, the last time she saw Cleo was at 1:30 that night when she asked for a drink of water.
"She would never leave us, she would never go out of the tent," said the mother.
The parents reported that they had not closed their eyes in days.
“The worst part is that we can no longer do anything.
It's out of our hands.
We feel helpless and out of control, ”said Smith.