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A week after two-year-old Aisling Symes vanished from the West Auckland suburb of Henderson, police say they have no leads and have issued another plea for her to be returned unharmed.
The toddler disappeared from Longburn Rd in Henderson where she was last seen with an Asian woman in her 30s walking a dog.
Police poured huge resources into the search but last week said it was most likely she had been kidnapped and the mystery Asian woman may hold the key to her disappearance.
On Monday the head of the inquiry, Detective Inspector Gary Davey, said there had been no major breakthrough but had been getting a lot of information from the public.
Police staff on the inquiry had been increased to 70.
"We are still appealing for anyone who has her to come forward. We just want her back."
He says he is still hopeful someone had abducted her and was looking after her but could not rule out other possibilities.
Last week police said after an intensive search of the area around the Longburn Rd home of her deceased grandparents, they were convinced she was not in the area.
"My own genuine hope or gut feeling is that somebody does have her and she is still alive," he says.
"I believe that. I am optimistic, I believe family are and certainly the investigation team are optimistic that we can find Aisling."
The Asian woman is critical to police inquiries, he says.
"She doesn't need to fear the police. We just need to identify her and speak to her."
Police had "nothing solid" in the search for Aisling and all they could do was follow the potential leads they had and "make sure we keep an open mind and follow each of those phases down to its conclusion", he says.
On Sunday, Davey made a personal plea for Aisling to be returned and said whoever was responsible for her disappearance should call him directly on 0800 4247 5464.
"Whoever you are, you might be scared or intimidated by police activity over the past week.
"Don't be - call me. We just want to know where Aisling is."
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