A three-month-old baby was snatched from a pram outside his home in Germany after his mother said she had briefly left him outside while carrying shopping up to her second-floor apartment.Â
The 37-year-old told police she had left her son on the pavement for just a few moments while she took her bags inside.
But when she returned, the baby had vanished.
A major search operation was launched, with drones and police dogs scouring the area, in a southwestern town of Baden-Württemberg.
A baby’s body was found on Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the three-month-old was abducted, and police fear it could be the missing child.
The body was discovered in or near the Rankbach stream, which flows through the town.
Formal identification efforts are still underway.
The baby’s grandmother told BILD: ‘My daughter came home from shopping, she had bags with her and wanted to carry them up to the second floor.’
Police are investigating whether the mother and child were followed as they walked home from the nearby shops, around 15 minutes from their house.Â
They had gone out to buy a few items before the store closed at 10pm, and the baby was reported missing at 11.30pm, according to local reports.
A three-month-old baby was snatched from a pram outside his home in Germany after his mother said she had briefly left him outside while carrying shopping up to her second-floor apartment. Pictured: Officers during the searchÂ
Search dogs and drones scoured the area for any sign of the child
The 37-year-old had left her son on the pavement for just a few moments while she took her bags inside. But when she returned, the baby had vanished. Pictured: Police, search dogs, and numerous emergency responders assist in search efforts
A body believed to be the baby boy was found on Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours after he was abducted
A police spokesperson said: ‘The child was unattended for a short time. He was lifted from his stroller by an unknown person and taken away.’
It comes after a separate shocking incident earlier this year, when a toddler was allegedly snatched by a homeless man inside a busy supermarket in Italy in full view of her horrified parents.Â
CCTV footage captured the one-year-old girl being grabbed at a store in Bergamo.
The dramatic clip shows the family – mum, dad and their little daughter – calmly exiting through the automatic doors when a Romanian man suddenly approaches.
Within seconds, the suspect, dressed in a black hoodie and green trousers, lunges at the child and seizes her.
In a horrifying tug-of-war, the toddler is yanked in opposite directions as her desperate mother clings to her arms while the man grips her legs.
The girl’s stunned father is seen jolting away from the shopping trolley he had been pushing before rushing to intervene.
Panicked shoppers quickly leap into action, surrounding the pair and helping wrestle the little girl back to safety.
A young girl with black hair can be seen frozen in confusion as the terrifying scene unfolds before her.
Moments later, security guards storm in and pin the alleged attacker to the ground as chaos erupts inside the store.
Police were called and raced to the supermarket, where officers secured the traumatised child before escorting the suspect to the station.
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