Baby found safe after major alert

The baby, named Diango who was taken from a maternity hospital in Orthez yesterday, was found at around 10.00 this morning following a road check by police, near to the home of the woman suspected of kidnapping him.

The brother of the woman had received what he described as a strange phone call from her saying she had given birth, and he contacted police after seeing the appeals for the baby’s safe return.

Head of communication for the Aquitaine gendarmerie Bertrand Ponty said: “We received information about a red car near to an address, a car which seemed to be somewhat implicated in the matter.

“This matched information we had been given by a phone call from a gentleman, who lives in the Jura, who had told us that his sister had called him to say she had just given birth, and that he found it very strange.”

The woman has been placed in custody. Medical checks will be carried out on the baby.

Investigators had said early this morning that they had received around 30 calls after a national alert was issued last night.

The national alert, called an alerte enlèvement conforms to a plan adopted in France in Febrary 2006 which involves using radio, television and signs at train stations and motorways to try to find a child which has been taken and its suspected kidnapper.

Around 40 police officers were brought in to investigate the witness reports and more than 150 police officers had been deployed on the ground.

Photo:AFP/Police Judiciaire