Did a Chinese man kidnap his granddaughter to pay his gambling debt? - report

An elderly man in China reportedly kidnapped his granddaughter to extort his own daughter for money to pay off a gambling debt, only to be arrested and then blame his daughter for all of it, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. 

The media outlet's report cited an account in the Shanghai Law Journal, a legal periodical based in China's largest city.

Notably, no information about the account described in the journal is provided regarding when this incident supposedly took place, with media outlets reporting on it also not providing any information about it.

How did a Chinese grandfather extort his daughter by kidnapping his granddaughter?

Supposedly, the caper in question was motivated by the grandfather, a gambling addict, suffering an approximately $72,500 debt.

As a result, the account described in the media reports say he picked up his four-year-old granddaughter from school before calling his daughter, demanding the money if she ever wanted to see the child again.

However, this caper was supposedly thwarted, the SCMP reported, when the man's daughter called the police, who arrested him. 

But while in prison, the grandfather blamed his daughter for everything, saying she is suing him and "just wants me dead," and said the entire incident isn't anything for law enforcement to deal with because it was a family matter, according to the SCMP.

Ultimately, the man supposedly eventually managed to adapt to prison life.

Information about the entire incident is hard to come by in the West. However, other outlets have added more details.

According to Asiaone, several other Chinese outlets have covered the story and a video covering the incident on Weibo has accrued over three million views.

However, it also reflects another issue: That of child trafficking in China.

Though data can be hard to come by regarding China due to a lack of disclosed information on the part of the government, UNICEF, citing China's Public Security Ministry, said that between 2000 and 2007, there were 45,507 known cases of children and women being trafficked, though noting that the actual number was likely much higher. 

Models have been instituted on the part of UNICEF and parts of the Chinese government to try and protect children on the streets, who may be especially at risk.

However, exactly how that has panned out isn't entirely clear, as is the nature of the current figures regarding child trafficking.