Seven-day-old baby 'taken from hospital by woman posing as staff' – probe launched

A police operation was launched after a woman reportedly took a seven-day-old baby from a hospital room in Germany. The newborn was allegedly taken from a neonatal ward at Lüdenscheid Hospital in North Rhine-Westphalia after the suspect posed as a member of staff on Saturday afternoon.

Police said the woman, who was wearing a light blue coat, entered the mother’s room at around 3.15pm and told the family she was taking the baby for a routine examination before leaving with the infant. The hospital later reported the baby missing, triggering a major search operation. At around 4.10pm, witnesses found the seven-day-old boy unharmed in a side room of a nearby parking garage, close to a ticket machine, around an eight-minute drive from the hospital. An ambulance returned the baby to hospital, where police said he is doing well. Officers cordoned off parts of the parking garage while forensic examinations were carried out. Detectives have also reviewed CCTV footage and deployed a sniffer dog as part of the investigation.