Alleged abduction of Queensland schoolboy 'financially motivated'

The alleged abduction of a 12-year-old Queensland boy found in NSW was financially motivated, police say.

An amber alert was issued for a Mudgeeraba schoolboy who was last seen on Clover Hill Drive at 3.45pm on Friday.

The boy was found by police in Grafton, almost 240km away from Mudgeeraba, in NSW on Saturday morning.

Queensland Police Service’s Detective Inspector Marc Hogan said the boy had “some scratches consistent with being bound”.

But Det Insp Hogan was unable to say what the boy had been bound with.

As a precaution, the boy was taken to hospital to be examined.

Det Insp Hogan said a 53-year-old man was expected to be charged with kidnapping for ransom after being extradited to Queensland.

“It’s the case that both parties were known to each other and there were financial issues involved in the lead up to the abduction of the child,” he told reporters on Saturday.

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When asked about further details about what the financial issues were, the detective inspector said: “It’s more along the lines of sort of personal loans with each other, again we’re looking into digging into that other stuff.

“We will allege that requests were made for money.”

Investigators are also looking into whether or not other people were involved.

Det Insp Hogan said NSW Police were able to track down the pair on road camera networks, which “gave us the idea as to the direction of travel over the border”.

He said a member of the public called police after seeing media reports and recognised the vehicle.

Det Insp Hogan said he was happy the boy was healthy but he did not know what the “long-term ramifications” of the ordeal would have on the child.