The children of a German steakhouse heiress were reportedly kidnapped while celebrating the new year with their father.
Christina Block’s two kids, Klara, 13, and Theodor, 10, were with their father and Block’s ex-husband, Stephan Hensel, at a cafe in Gråsten, Denmark, on Monday around 12:15 a.m., according to Bild, a German tabloid newspaper.
Danish police told the Telegraph a group of men attacked the father and knocked him to the ground before kidnapping the children in two separate cars. Both vehicles had German license plates. It is unclear whether they may have crossed the Danish border.
Block’s children were still reported missing as of Tuesday, according to the outlet. German Federal Police and Schleswig-Holstein state police did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for an update on the children’s whereabouts.
Authorities have not released a motive, however Danish police are currently investigating whether the kidnapping is connected to Block and Hensel’s ongoing custody battle, according to Metro.
The couple has been involved in “an ugly custody battle” since their divorce in 2018.
Block previously told the German tabloid that her former husband had “kidnapped” their two youngest children before in 2021, after they did not return home to Hamburg.
Hensel responded to that accusation by saying the children did not want to return back to their mother, and accused her of emotionally and physically abusing them.
The custody battle currently continues in two different countries, with German courts ruling the kids should return to their mother in Hamburg, and Danish courts ruling they should remain in Denmark with their father.