Custody investigation leads to plane returning to Dulles

WASHINGTON — A plane that left Washington Dulles International Airport bound for China on Thursday was turned back after an order from the FBI in a child- custody investigation.

After a United Airlines flight left for Beijing shortly after noon, ABC7 reports, the FBI was alerted that a child on board was allegedly being taken out of the country illegally by the mother.

The flight returned to Dulles about five hours after it left, ABC7 reports. When it landed, the mother was arrested for what the FBI described as “international parental kidnapping.” The child was reunited with the father.

The grandmother was on the plane as well; she was taken off the plane but not arrested, ABC7 says.

The flight then left for Beijing again.

See the report from ABC7:

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