Kidnapped infant found in another hospital

Muang Roi Et precinct superintendent Pol Colonel Somchai Nilchan said a 30-year-old woman, who claimed to have given birth at home, and her family had taken the baby to the Roi Et Thonburi Hospital. After the woman and child were admitted for recovery, the nurses noticed that the umbilical chord and stitches appeared to have been done by a professional at a hospital instead of at home as she claimed. 

Also, the first three pages of the Roi Et maternal and prenatal health book that the woman carried appeared to be torn, and the book had been filed missing since December 9. The hospital alerted police for further investigation after blood tests of the infant and woman showed there was no match.

At press time, police were seeking an arrest warrant for the woman over charges of taking a minor under the age of 15 from her parents without sound reason. 

However, the family insisted it had nothing to do with the infant’s abduction and that it was their child, while the mother-in-law had police dig out the placenta and bloodstained clothes from her home backyard as evidence, Somchai said.

Police later had the infant’s parents identify their child from a line-up of six infants, Somchai said. The couple also underwent blood tests and results showed a match with the infant’s blood type. Police also had the parents and the other couple undergo DNA tests and the Institute of Forensic Medicine is expected to come up with the results in seven days. 

Following the mother’s complaint on Wednesday afternoon that her infant had gone missing from the children’s ward while she had gone to the toilet and then outside due to the fire drill, police investigation showed that a woman in her 30s-40s was also spotted nearby before the disappearance. Subsequent inspection of CCTV footage showed the suspect fleeing the hospital with the baby. Meanwhile, Roi Et Hospital director Dr Kriengkrai Kovitangkoon told the press that the hospital was equipped with a good security system, which included 119 CCTV cameras, 26 security guards on a three-shift rotation and medical staff working round the clock. However the ward in question had been newly built and security cameras were waiting to be installed at the entrance. He said the hospital planned to install 60 CCTV cameras at risky spots and wards next year.

He also said the hospital had sent medical staff to join the multi-disciplinary team to provide care to the infant pending investigation.