Alberta boy escapes alleged abductor after children hatch plan to ‘catch a predator’ on social media

Police in Alberta are discouraging attempts at vigilante justice after a 12-year-old boy narrowly escaped the car of a man who allegedly abducted him this week in the course of a “catch-a-predator” plan that the youngster had hatched with a group of fellow tweens using social media.

The group of about seven or so children, each under or around the age of 13, staged their makeshift sting operation in the north Calgary suburb of Airdrie, the RCMP said. Although it did not entirely go as planned, their endeavour ended up with the arrest of a man who has a criminal record for previous offences involving minors.