Kidnapped French baby and parents found in Amsterdam, parents arrested

The prematurely born baby Santiago, who was abducted from the maternity ward of a hospital near Paris earlier this week, was found together with his parents in an Amsterdam hotel on Friday, a police spokesman confirmed following French media reports. The police have not yet been able to provide any further details about where they were found or the circumstances.

According to French media, they were found in a hotel near Amsterdam. The child's state of health is described as “good”, said a source familiar with the case. International arrest warrants had been issued for the parents.

Santiago was born prematurely on October 6 and was in a hospital near Paris. His parents, a 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, who both have criminal records, took him away on Monday. Their car was then found near the Belgian city of Charleroi.

On Friday, the parents of the kidnapped premature French baby have been arrested in a hotel in the center of Amsterdam, the police reported. “Following an international search warrant, we arrested a man and a woman today in a hotel in the center of Amsterdam on suspicion of kidnapping their premature baby. The baby is currently in a hospital receiving the care he needs,” police said on X.

Several people close to the parents were arrested in France in connection with the kidnapping. They admitted to having “accompanied the couple and the child on their escape to Belgium” to return to France at night, the judiciary said. One woman is accused by the judicial authority of failing to report a crime.

It is still unclear why the parents took their newborn with them. The French public prosecutor's office suspects that they may have feared that they would lose parental custody as a result of their convictions. The police described the action as an abduction, as the baby needed medical help and was possibly in danger of death.

According to French authorities, Santiago was 17 days old when he was abducted and needs constant medical care. The young parents had apparently hidden Santiago in their bag while he was in hospital and took him outside. A nurse noticed the child's disappearance a short time later and alerted the police, reports NU.nl.