After a weekend of intense searching in the Rivière-des-Prairies, Montreal police say, for now, they have cancelled their underwater search for 10-year-old Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou.
“Because of the water speed now — it’s getting dangerous,” said Montreal police inspector Ian Lafrenière.
“There will still be police officers on the land trying to find Ariel. We still have an investigation going on with investigators from the Major Crimes Unit, but for the moment, there won’t be any search in the water.”
Ariel’s father, Kouadiou Frédéric Kouakou, says it’s good news.
“By searching in the river… we don’t find our son there, it simply means my son is alive. So for me it’s a positive thing that we have to take into consideration,” Kouakou said.
Kouakou believes it’s a chance for police to re-focus their resources and efforts on looking into whether Ariel was kidnapped.
But police say they don’t believe the boy was taken.
“We also have a very credible witness that saw him in the park — she [actually] spoke with him, so this is the last person that spoke with him. We have no videos, no witnesses seeing him going out of the park.”
READ MORE: Montreal deploys ice breaker in search for Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou
Kouakou has been missing since March 12, after he left his home in Ahunstic-Cartierville to meet a friend.
On Friday, police got help from a specially trained dog on loan from the Nova Scotia RCMP, who searched the river.
READ MORE: Nova Scotia RCMP dog joins search for missing Montreal boy Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou
A boat belonging to Hydro-Quebec also cruised along the shores of the river, breaking up the ice.
Saturday, searches along the shore continued as volunteers scoured for any clues of the missing boy.
READ MORE: ‘We have to keep going’: Search continues for 10-year-old Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou
WATCH BELOW: Search for Ariel Jeffrey Kouakou
Lafrenière says investigators have met and questioned over 40 people.
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“People are more than welcome to show up, more than welcome to call us on 911 if they have anything to report to us,” said Lafrenière.
The command post has been moved from Galeries Normandie to Police Station 10 (11756 O’Brien Blvd.) in Cartierville.
Meanwhile, the family is organizing another walk-through for next Saturday.
They’ll be retracing Ariel’s steps from his home to the house of the friend he was supposed to visit when he went missing.
Kouakou asked volunteers “not to give up.”
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