“We had not the slightest doubt that we will be able to say ‘ Agota is coming home’,” the police said on Facebook.
Police Commissioner General Renatas Požėla confirmed that the girl was taken to hospital and the suspect was brought to the police commissariat.
“The suspect is at the police station, [officers] are questioning him. The girl has been taken to Kaunas clinics for examination,” Požėla told ELTA.
Agota, born in 2014, left her home in Kaunas and went missing on Sunday afternoon.
The police have not yet commented on the motives for the crime or other circumstances of the suspected kidnapping.
“More details from the investigation is up to the prosecutor to decide, he will provide the information,” a spokeswoman for Kaunas County Chief Commissariat, Odeta Vaitkevičienė told ELTA on Wednesday morning.
The garage where the girl was hidden was 1.5 kilometres away from the place of abduction, the police said. Head of Kaunas Police Mindaugas Baršys added it was “somewhat adapted” for holding a hostage.
The suspect was detained there by ARAS, Lithuania's anti-terrorist police unit. He can be held by the police for up to 48 hours, the maximum period without a court order.
Officers were informed that the suspect might be armed, but no weapons were found in the garage.
“Handcuffs were used on the person and the girl was with him. It was not a simple operation because we were informed that the person could be armed,” the commissioner general told a press conference held at 1 a.m. on Wednesday.
According to Požėla, the motives for the kidnapping are not yet clear. Officers managed to investigate a rather “sophisticated” crime in a short time, he said.
“The crime was sufficiently sophisticated. Obviously, not everyone expects to be detained, but at this point some things surprised us,” he said, without elaborating further.
The suspect did not resist the detention and obeyed the ARAS officers, he added.
According to the police chief, the man has had several administrative penalties but no criminal record. He has had no connections with the kidnapped girl’s family, Požėla said.
