Hospital nurses foil baby snatcher

JAKARTA (JP): Nurses from the maternity ward of Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital foiled on Wednesday an attempt to abduct a newborn baby.

Disguised as a pregnant woman, Maemunah, 44, of Cipondoh, Tangerang, snatched a two-day-old baby boy from his cradle and then stowed the newborn in her traveling bag.

The baby's mother was at the time of the attempted kidnap undergoing an operation to have her tubes tied.

Nurses quickly raised the alarm after they noticed that the baby was missing from his cradle. After a quick search, the nurses found the baby asleep in Maemunah's bag. Baby clothes and am empty feeding bottle were also found in the bag.

The 3.7-kilogram baby was immediately returned to his mother's safekeeping.

Maemunah told reporters that she only wanted to comfort the baby, who she claimed was crying. She said she had not gone to the maternity ward to steal a baby, but to adopt a child for Rp 200,000 (US$27).

She said that her former husband, who divorced her last April, had promised to return if she could bear him a child. The two do not have any children, but Maemunah has four children from her first marriage.

She said that following her husband's ultimatum she had pretended to be pregnant by attaching nylon stockings, pillows and sponges to her stomach in an attempt to fool her husband and neighbors.

Maemunah also said she had told her children that she was going to stay in the hospital to deliver a baby.

The baby's mother, Marlinah, of Klender, East Jakarta, said that it had never occurred to her that Maemunah would steal her newborn.

"She approached me and said that she had come from my hometown of Padang Pariaman in West Sumatra and that she was going to deliver a baby. She told me how beautiful my baby is," Marlinah said.

Another woman sharing a room with Marlinah said Maemunah had also approached her and her baby and claimed that she was, like the patient, a Sundanese.

One of the hospital's janitors said Maemunah had been loitering in the vicinity of the maternity ward for the past few months. (01)