It was Greece, 2002. Johnstone was six.

He had no idea he was being filmed for 60 Minutes.

Fairfax Media can detail the involvement of the Channel Nine program in yet another controversial child recovery. This time, on the tiny Mediterranean island of Kalymnos.

Veteran journalist Liz Hayes presented the scoop. Hayes fronted a similar story in 2014 – also featuring a speedboat in Greece – except that report never made it to air.

Nine has been under fire since a 60 Minutes crew was arrested in Lebanon, following a botched "child recovery". This sparked weeks of disastrous headlines and diplomatic tensions.

In an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media, the boy at the centre of 60 Minutes' 2002 report, now aged 19, breaks his silence.

"I've cried my eyes out thousands of times," Theo Johnstone says. "Ninety-nine per cent of people don't know what's happened to me."

Johnstone was born Theo Kavouklis in Darwin, 1997. His father, Nick Kavouklis, and his mother, Diane Livingstone, separated soon after.

In 2001, Nick took Theo to Kalymnos for a six-week "holiday". He did not bring him back.

Because Australia and Greece are signatories to the Hague convention, which governs international child abductions, Nick was charged with kidnapping – then released on a surety of $5000.

Livingstone was desperate. She told one newspaper that of 14 Australian custody applications made in Greece within seven years, only two abducted children were returned.

She hatched her plan.

An abduction advisory service called Hug-Ur-Kids put Livingstone in contact with Trojan Securities International, an Arkansas-based recovery firm.

In September of 2002 she slipped into Athens with a Trojan agent. Two more agents arrived the next day. They established a base at motel on the nearby island of Kos.

The sting happened on a Friday. By then, Trojan operatives had been tracking their juvenile target in Kalymnos for days. They waited until Theo – with his young cousin and his grandmother Athanasia – stopped to look in a shop window.

But before they leapt into action, Livingstone reportedly thrust a camera at one of the agents. "This is for 60 Minutes," he recalled her saying in a 2002 interview with The Age. "The TV crews weren't there at the time, it was just us getting footage for them," the agent said.

Crucially, Greek authorities were involved – and Livingstone had Greek court orders on her side. While local police refused to help, officers from nearby Rhodes restrained Athanasia as Livingstone snatched Theo. It was a police car that drove mother and son to the speedboat. This vessel took them to Kos, where they flew to Athens, then London and, eventually, Australia.

Johnstone does not recall every detail. Yet there are moments he'll never forget.

As they raced away his mother ripped off her disguise, then tried to calm him.

Finally he recognised her. He cursed, he swore – all in Greek. He'd forgotten how to speak English.

"He [Nick] kind of brainwashed me," Johnstone says.

"To make me think that he's done the right thing – and she's done the wrong thing.

"He thinks what he did was right. He wanted me to see his side of the family, and show me the Greek way of things. That's what European males are like, especially when they have a son. Their sons are everything."

It was tough at first. Johnstone started school a year behind the other kids. He went to counselling once a week.

His family was in hiding, but they didn't tell him that.

He considers Diane's husband, Peter Johnstone, his real father: "We don't share the same blood but he's my dad."

Diane and Peter got together when Theo was two. They share one biological daughter, and everyone lives together in Perth. To outsiders, these four have always been "the Johnstone family". Theo made it official when he turned 18, taking the Johnstone surname.

He is especially close to his mother.

Johnstone is unequivocal when asked if she was right to use a child recovery agency: "Definitely. One hundred per cent ... I couldn't be happier.

"I think about what my life would be like if Mum hadn't pulled this off. I think about it quite a lot."

He trails off. Nick has returned to Darwin. He's seen him once since 2002. It was awkward, Johnstone says.

There was a time Nick caused a scene at his school, according to Johnstone. As he recalls it, there was an explosion of texts on his phone alerting him to the arrival of his biological father. Nick was demanding to see his son. When informed he had moved on, Johnstone says, he accused the students of lying.

He ignores Nick's Facebook posts. One displays a tattoo of his son, frozen in time as a little boy. Another has him holding a fresh catch, declaring he'd love take Theo fishing again.

"Pete is the one who takes me fishing," Johnstone explains.

"I don't want any of that stuff. I don't want you to buy me back. I just want you to say sorry."

Johnstone believes his parents spent around $200,000 to retrieve him. He doesn't know how they afforded it but he's sure it was a huge burden. In 2002 it was reported that Livingstone took out a loan to finance the operation. Livingstone, now known as Diane Johnstone, confirms this to Fairfax Media. She says the program paid her a "small fee" but it was "nowhere near" the rumoured amount of $70,000. She denies Nine paid the recovery agents directly. The Nine network declined to comment.

Geoff Day, founder of the recently-closed Hug-Ur-Kids, put Livingstone in contact with Trojan Securities International.

"Recovery is not cheap [in many cases]," he says. "There's surveillance, you've got to locate them, there's paperwork through the embassies. You look at bribes, depending on what country you're in. It's not as cut and dry as people think."

Johnstone says his family relates to the plight of Sally Faulkner. In April, the Brisbane mother was arrested in Lebanon with four 60 Minutes crew and two recovery agents.

"Mum my knows what that lady's feeling right now. It's exactly what happened to me. The dad wants the children and he's done the wrong thing. Now the lady's been caught out doing exactly what my mum did.

"There should be an agreement made up. From what I've heard, [Ali Elamine, the father, is] not letting the kids leave for some time ... the kids should be free."

Johnstone has never seen his 60 Minutes episode because it's not online. He knew a journalist would track him down. He wasn't worried. He's worked through his stuff. Today, he feels grateful: for his mates, his plumbing job, and for what his Mum and Dad – he's referring to Pete – did back in 2002.

"It's made me a stronger person. I'm glad the way my life is now. I wouldn't change it, at all."

mlallo@fairfaxmedia.com.au