In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk law enforcement officers have detained two underage girls who are suspected of abducting a baby. The four-month-old girl is now at home safe and well.

The baby girl disappeared from a pram in broad daylight while her mother was in a shop for a couple of minutes. When she came out of the shop the pram was empty. Desperate to find her daughter, the mother called the police. Every police unit in a city with a population of well over a million people was busy searching for the infant, who was found the same evening in the bushes on one of the city’s streets.

The police press service reports that the culprits are two teenage girls, aged 14 and 15 years old. Both are from good families, but have already come to the arrention of the police after running away from homes several times in the past, most recently just a week before the kidnapping.

According to the police the teenagers snatched the baby because they wanted “to play with her”. When the baby started crying they just got rid of her by leaving her in the nearest bushes and ran away. Police insist the teens do not fully realise what they did.

A criminal case is underway, with the girls accused of kidnapping. They are currently on bail, having given a written undertaking not to leave the city.