By Callum Paton and Maha Ellawati.
Tripoli/Benghazi, 12 February 2014:
The family of a newborn baby boy snatched from a Tripoli maternity hospital . . .[restrict]three days ago have said they are relieved and overjoyed to have their infant son returned to them.
The uncle of the child, Ali Al-Aidoudi, told the Libya Herald the family had been inundated with messages from well wishers following the return of their 7-day-old son. He also described how they had been sick with worry after the boy, who is so young that he has not been named, was taken from Triploli’s Khadra Hospital.
Aidoudi said that the entire family had been unable to sleep or eat in the intervening days and had taken to driving around Tripoli or returning to the maternity ward to search for any sign of him.
He said that the child was abducted, seemingly with no trace, by a couple who had been visiting the hospital. The woman, posing as an expectant mother, took the boy while his father, Mohammed Al-Aidoudi, and mother were signing hospital discharge papers.
Aidoudi explained the baby had finally been retrieved when the two kidnappers took him to Tripoli Medical Centre for a check up. They were rumbled as impostors by hospital staff when they were unable to produce the correct documents for the child.
The uncle said he believed the pair were being held in custody after being handed over to the authorities.
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