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Police seek CCTV footage within 1000km of campsite where Cleo Smith vanished

Cleo Smith may have been abducted from the family's campsite.

Cleo Smith may have been abducted from the family's campsite.

Surveillance footage from motels and children’s clothing stores is being sought by West Australian police investigating the disappearance of four-year-old Cleo Smith.

A land search around the campsite from which she went missing has concluded as authorities focus their attention on a criminal probe into Cleo’s suspected abduction.

Detectives believe she was taken from her family’s tent at the popular Blowholes site, on WA’s northwest coast, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

West Australian authorities have offered a $1 million reward for information leading to Cleo’s location.

Police have also launched a fresh appeal for any dashcam or CCTV footage recorded last weekend within a 1000km radius of the Blowholes campsite but only as far south as Lancelin.

Detectives are “particularly interested” in motel check-in and communal areas, service stations, fast food outlets and bakeries, truck stops and free camping areas, children’s clothing stores, pharmacies and cosmetic stores, and camping stores.

Community service announcements appealing for information regarding Cleo’s disappearance are also being broadcast on radio stations.

Cleo was last seen by her parents about 1.30am on Saturday. Her mother Ellie Smith said she woke around 6am to discover the little girl was missing from the family’s tent.

It has been confirmed the zipper on the tent was found open to a height Cleo could not have reached, seemingly ruling out the possibility she wandered off on her own. Her red and black sleeping bag is also missing.

Investigators have spoken to up to 20 registered sex offenders in the Carnarvon area, but there are currently no suspects.

“Given the information now that we’ve gleaned from the scene, the fact that the search has gone on for this period of time and we haven’t been able to locate her … it leads us to believe that she was taken from the tent,” Detective Superintendent Rob Wilde said.

Supt Wilde said authorities were keeping an open mind in relation to whether Cleo may have been taken by someone known to her.
Police have not ruled out the possibility Cleo may have been taken across state borders.

-AAP

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