Arrest (illustrative)
Arrest (illustrative)Thinkstock

Investigators and detectives from the Jerusalem District Police arrested a resident of eastern Jerusalem on Wednesday, on suspicion of kidnapping his three-year-old daughter from her mother in Sweden. 

The incident began in September, when Swedish police contacted Interpol, following the complaint of a Swedish citizen who claimed her former boyfriend, and the father of her child, kidnapped the girl and brought her to Israel. 

When the mother asked the man to return the child to her custody and to provide information of his location, the man threatened to attack anyone who came near him. He also threatened to harm the child. 

An international arrest warrant was issued for the man, and the Jerusalem District Police quickly followed suit by opening an investigation. 

Police soon discovered that the father had brought the child to live at his current girlfriend's apartment in the Judean city of Bethlehem. 

According to the father, the mother's husband threatened him and demanded he return to the girl to her mother. Therefore, he claims, he fled with his daughter to Israel. 

Jerusalem District Police carried out investigative and intelligence activities in cooperation with special units of both police and the army. This led to the locating of the girlfriend's apartment by Border Patrol forces. 

The current girlfriend, a resident of Bethlehem, was brought for questioning, while the three-year-old girl, who was found to be safe and sound, was turned over to welfare authorities. 

Soon after the father was identified, he was presented with the international arrest warrant against him and was subsequently arrested. 

The mother was flown from Sweden to Israel where she met with her daughter in the Jerusalem precinct, in the presence of welfare administrators. 

On Thursday the father will be brought before the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court where Sweden's request for extradition will be considered. He is expected to charged with involvement in the kidnapping of a minor, threats and assault.