Flight en route to China from D.C. returns at request of feds because parent may have kidnapped son
Five hours after leaving Washington, D.C., for Beijing a United Airlines flight returned to Washington Dulles International Airport on Thursday because a passenger was suspected of violating a child-custody order by taking her son overseas.
Back in D.C., the flight was met by FBI agents and a mother, grandmother and boy were removed from the plane, according to the Associated Press and CNN. Federal law enforcement requested that the flight return to D.C. and United Airlines complied, the CNN article says.
The mother, Wenjing “Linda” Liu, was arrested on suspicion of international parental kidnapping and the boy was turned over to his father, who has joint custody. The grandmother was not charged.
A 2014 agreement requires signed, notarized permission in advance from the other parent before the boy can be taken abroad, CNN reports.
