Police launch hunt for baby kidnapper in Poland

Police in southern Poland stepped up a hunt Friday for the kidnapper of a six-month-old girl allegedly snatched from her pram after her mother was knocked out, officials said.

The unprecedented incident which took place Tuesday at dusk in a park near a residential housing estate in the coal mining city of Sosnowiec has stumped investigators.

"It's the first time anything like this has happened in our city," Sosnowiec city police spokesman Pawel Warchol told AFP Friday.

Municipal CCTV cameras had recorded images of a man following the mother as she pushed a pram with her baby, named Madzia, walking along a winding route through the city, police said.

The images provided only enough detail for a rudimentary police sketch of the suspect who was wearing a hooded jacket and trousers, without facial features.

The child's mother claims she suffered a blow to the back of the head which knocked her out. When she came to, she says the baby had vanished from the pram.

Warchol confirmed Friday no ransom demand had been made in connection with the case.

Investigators were examining the possibility that the disappearance was linked to a custody dispute, but noted that the child's parents, both in their early twenties, appear to have a good relationship.

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