N.S. man charged with abduction in Quebec Amber Alert case

A 31-year-old Nova Scotia man has been charged with abduction following an incident last week in Quebec that led to an Amber Alert.

A clerk at a gas station in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, Que., near Trois-Rivires, called police after a man stopped there for gasoline but couldn't pay for the fuel.

The clerk observed an infant with the man and became concerned about the child's safety, according to police. The clerk took pictures of the infant, the vehicle and its licence plate before contacting the Sret du Qubec.

"I believe there was something about the infant that might have looked like they weren't necessarily being cared for, that they were kind of a little bit dirty kind of thing," RCMP Cpl. Chris Marshall said Monday. "I think they just had some general concerns. I don't believe that the clerk thought that the child had been abducted at that point."

Because the car had a Nova Scotia plate, the Sret du Qubec contacted RCMP in Nova Scotia's Colchester County. They went to a home in West St. Andrews, N.S., where they determined that the child was missing.

In a statement, RCMP said the child had been kidnapped by the man, who is related to her.

Police in Quebec issued an Amber Alert and within about 45 minutes, the man, the infant and the car were safely located in Saint-Hyacinthe, just outside Montreal. The man was arrested and the girl was taken into care until she could be reunited with her family.

Marshall said it's unclear why they weren't contacted by the family about the missing child.

"That was part of our investigation, to determine why is it we were never contacted until we were contacted by a partner police agency in another province? But that's the reality; we were not advised there was even a missing infant, that this was occurring until the Sret du Qubec gave us a call."