New Zealand police step up hunt for dumped toddler's mother

Sep 18, 2007, 21:57 GMT

Wellington - New Zealand police on Wednesday stepped up their search for the mother of a 3-year-old girl abandoned at an Australian rail station by her father, and said that every passing hour heightened fears for the woman's safety.

Anan Liu, 27, has not been seen since September 10, four days before her husband Nai Yin Xue, 54, flew with their daughter Qian Xun Xue to Melbourne, where he allegedly abandoned her Saturday.

Interpol has been alerted to look for Xue, who Australian police say flew to the United States after leaving the child.

New Zealand police said Wednesday they were looking for a ceremonial sword that Xue was known to possess, and had obtained search warrants for forensic examinations of the house in the Auckland suburb Mount Roskill where the family lived and for his wife's car, which was found at the city's international airport.

They said there was no evidence that Anan Liu, who was known as Annie, had left the country, and that her bank account had not been touched in the last 10 days.

Police said earlier that there was a history of violence in the family, and Xue, a Chinese magazine publisher who taught martial arts, had been convicted of assaulting his wife in June.

The child, dubbed Pumpkin because of the brand of clothing she wore when found, is in foster care in Melbourne, and news reports said her maternal grandmother was preparing to fly from her home in China to be with her.