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A woman has posted a comment on a Chinese news website saying she might know who abducted five year-old Ma Xin Xin.
Skykiwi operations manager Sarah Li said the woman said she knew Xin Xin's parents and that the kidnapping may be related to her parent's business partners.
"She said: she might even know who took the girl," Ms Li said.
She said the information had been forwarded to police.
The Herald today revealed that Xin Xin's separated parents recently fought about whether she should move to Australia.
Several sources said that the 5-year-old's father Jian (Mark) Ma wanted her to go to Australia so she could spend more time with her paternal grandparents but her mother Jin Zhou wanted her to stay in New Zealand and continue her schooling.
Police have refused to speculate on the motive for the kidnapping but did issue a border alert just hours after she was snatched from outside her Albany home on Monday afternoon.
The border alert prevents anyone from taking Xin Xin out of the country - although she could be slipped out under a false name.
Police said yesterday there had still been no ransom note or any other word from the kidnappers.
Detective Inspector Steve Wood said police were becoming increasingly concerned for Xin Xin's safety and yesterday appealed directly to those responsible for her safe return.
"As the hours go by the police, family and obviously the public of New Zealand become more and more concerned about her safety.
"I make this appeal to those persons or person responsible to ensure that she is returned safely to the family. We urge these people to make contact with the police."
Mr Wood said there was only a limited amount of information that could be released to the public due to the sensitivities of investigating a kidnapping.
"I would just like to reiterate that in a complex case such as this it is very, very important that the police are cautious about what we make public."
Close family friend Crown Xu told the Herald Xin Xin's parents had fought about their daughter going to Australia several times. "Mark sometimes tried to bring the daughter to Australia to stay with them but the mother didn't like Mark to take the child."
When asked if he believed the kidnapping could have been an attempt to take Xin Xin overseas, Mr Xu said no.
"We don't think so because the police have already done something so that [Xin Xin] can't go overseas."
Mr Xu added that Mr Ma's parents had flown to New Zealand to be with the family following the kidnapping and that both of Xin Xin's parents, who work in property development, were co-operating with police. Mr Xu feared the kidnapping may have been the result of a business deal gone wrong and the culprits were now too scared to come forward with a ransom due to the large amount of publicity.
A woman living at one of Mr Ma's former homes told the Herald yesterday that people came looking for the property developer for up to a year after he left, saying he owed them money.
Meanwhile, Mr Wood said more than 30 police were working on the case, with help from a large number of experts and other agencies, such as customs and victim support. There had also been offers of help from overseas, although spokesman Kevin Loughlin said those offers had not been acted on.
Residents in Xin Xin's street have used yellow ribbon to tie teddy bears to trees and lamp-posts in a move to let her family know the community is thinking of them.
- Beck Vass and Lincoln Tan
