A newborn was abducted from a hospital in Spain by a woman dressed in nurse’s scrubs, police have said.
The unnamed woman, 24, accused of kidnapping a newborn baby in Bilbao, northern Spain, late on Wednesday was arrested after being caught on CCTV roaming the corridors.
The woman brazenly told staff she was going to take blood tests with the baby in her arms, Josu Erkoreka, the Basque regional government’s head of security, told reporters.
According to local police, the baby was found in the Bilbao neighbourhood of Santutxu and is said to be in good health despite the distressing ordeal.
Local news outlets report that the newborn was found on the doormat of an eighth-floor building in the Plaza de El Carmen de Santutxu.
"I was making breakfast when the doorbell rang. I looked through the peephole but didn’t see anybody. I opened the door and there he was, lying on the mat.
"I got emotional, thinking, 'poor parents and poor child.'", said a local resident who made the discovery.
The chief of the Basque health department, Gotzone Sagardui, said the hospital’s patient safety committee would investigate what appeared to be an isolated security breach.
Mr Erkoreka also said "everything" seemed to indicate the woman tried to kidnap several babies that night as she went into several rooms and tried the same thing with other mothers "but the first few attempts didn't work."
A police statement read: "At the time of the abduction she was wearing a white doctor’s uniform, but was later seen wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt, tight-fitting geometric patterned leggings, trainers and a small, black, crescent-shaped handbag crossed over like a shoulder bag.
"She was carrying the baby in her arms and was also carrying a rectangular raffia-type bag."
Similarly, a woman in California is being held on $1 million (£884,000) bail after allegedly dressing as a nurse and gaining access to a maternity ward at a hospital in an attempt to steal a baby.
Authorities said 23-year-old Jesenea Miron from Moreno Valley, California had allegedly entered the hospital posing as a newly qualified nurse and was able to gain access to where all of the newborn babies were being looked after.
She entered a patient’s hospital room, identified herself as a nurse and “attempted to take their newborn infant,” the police statement said.
"The female fled the location before she was able to be apprehended by hospital security or law enforcement," said the Riverside County Sheriff"s Department
