The two men had robbed a 30-year-old woman at her flat in Batu Lanchang at knifepoint. They grabbed the baby from her and hid the child in a box inside the house.

The parents, thinking the robbers had abducted the baby, searched in vain around the flats until finally hearing the muffled cries of the baby within their own house.

In the 10.30am incident in Van Praagh Road on Monday, the two men had appeared in front of her door with a box and had asked her to sign for it. As she opened the door, one of the men rushed in, brandished a knife and told her not to scream.

According to police, the men demanded RM50,000 from the woman. When she said she did not have that kind of money, one of the men took away a necklace worth RM1,200.

Her three-year-old daughter was with her throughout the ordeal, while her three-month-old son was taken away by one of the robbers.

The man then stuffed a cloth into the baby’s mouth and taped it over and later placed the baby in a box in one of the rooms. Both men then left the house.

About 10 minutes later, the woman realised her baby was missing. Her husband, who was at work at the time of the incident, rushed back and they searched the entire flats area for 30 minutes for their baby.

The couple later found the baby in one of their rooms after hearing muffled cries of the infant.

Northeast district police chief Soffian Santong said police are on the lookout for the suspects and are looking through CCTV footage. He said those with information on the case can call Inspector Nurfaiz Fathi Marhom at 04-282 5922 ext 228.