TSA staff check bags at Los Angeles International Airport
A U.S. Transportation Security Administration officer looks at a Rubik's Cube as he inspects a passenger's luggage at Los Angeles International Airport, Dec. 29, 2009. The U.S. is changing its visa-free program in the wake of recent terror attacks. Reuters/Mario Anzuoni

An American woman was arrested by police in the Philippines under child-lifting charges. This comes after the airport staff spotted a baby in her handbag.

The American woman who seemed to be a solo traveler and furnished her personal passport allegedly attempted to flee the country with the kidnapped child, Philippines Immigration Bureau spokesman Melvin Mabulac told CNN.

The baby was found after the airport staff inspected the woman's oversized carry-on suitcase leading to the interrogation.

Mabulac said they received a report around 6.20 am Wednesday that a 43-year-old woman was detained in Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila as she could not show any valid travel document for the infant.

On being questioned, the woman claimed to be the child’s aunt but could not testify that relationship with a valid document. The baby was just six-day-old at the time of being reportedly abducted, according to CNN.

Philippines National Bureau of Investigation's Anti-Human Trafficking Division is now probing into the matter for clearer insights.

On February 27, 2019, Philippine Police requested parents to be extra cautious after arresting a man who tried to kidnap five children in Quezon City on Sunday. “We should guard our children and be aware of where they are if they leave the house,” Philstar Global quoted Philippine National Police (PNP) Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Bernard Banac as saying.

In another such incident which happened back on March 13, 2019, a woman was held captive by Barangay watchmen for attempting to kidnap a five-year-old girl in Tondo, Manila. While the girl was walking alongside her mother at the corner of Jose Abad Santos Avenue and Soils street at around 7:15 p.m, an unidentified woman held her and yelled the girl was her niece. Barangay Officials, who formerly known the other and the daughter, seized the woman called Casiano, charging her with kidnapping followed by presenting her before the Manila prosecutor’s office.

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