Gardaí in Dublin remain searching for a suspect after a five-month-old girl was abducted following an “opportunistic” carjacking in the city on Monday.
The parents of the girl faced an agonising two-hour wait before discovering that the girl had been found safe and well by patrolling gardaí.
The incident happened at around 1.50pm in the Mountjoy Square area of the city, when a car was stolen with the baby passenger in the back seat.
It is believed the man who hijacked the car was not known to the child or her family.
Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty said: “Gardaí immediately commenced searches in the north inner city and an emergency alert was issued to all gardaí on patrol.”
Gardaí issued a formal child rescue alert to the media at 3.56pm, but stood it down at 4.17pm and said the child had been found safe in the car in a laneway near to where it had been taken.
“The Nissan Qashqai was recovered on North Richmond St in the north inner city by gardaí searching for the vehicle,” said Supt Geraghty. “The suspect in this case is best described at this stage as a white, middle-aged male wearing dark clothing and a baseball cap.”
The senior garda said that it was “obviously a very traumatic time” for the child’s mother and father, but they were reunited shortly after 4pm.
When asked if it was an opportunistic crime, Supt Geraghty said: “That would be what it appears to be at this stage”.
Gardaí have established an incident room at Mountjoy Garda Station and are currently harvesting CCTV footage in following a definite line of inquiry, as they appealed for witnesses to come forward.
