Police in Kampong Cham province on Saturday arrested a woman for allegedly kidnapping her 9-year-old niece.

Chherm Saro said his sister-in-law, Vorn Savy, kidnapped his daughter, Saro Lisa, on Friday and stole his motorbike. She then called him demanding $500 for Lisa’s safe return.

“She threatened that she would sell my daughter if I did not have enough money,” he said.

Saro said he tried to contact Savy to confirm his daughter’s safety. After a brief conversation with Lisa, he realised that the suspect was not far from her house in Kampong Cham province and filed a complaint with the provincial police.

Savy was fleeing from the Tboung Khmum district police with Lisa on her stolen motorbike when the provincial police stopped her and made the arrest, allowing the father and daughter to be reunited.

“Now, we are happy and we want to thank the authorities who intervened and saved our daughter,” said Saro.

Savy now faces 15 to 30 years in prison for trafficking, but that might be bumped up to a life sentence if the court finds that she treated the victim with cruelty during the kidnapping, according to Pen Roath, the provincial police chief.

James McCabe, operations manager for the Child Protection Unit, said that in the majority of Cambodia’s child kidnap cases this year, defendants “had knowledge of the [victim’s] family”, which makes them relatively simple to solve.

Additional reporting by Igor Kossov