This is the terrifying moment a baby was snatched from a shopping trolley as her parents’ backs were turned in a South African supermarket – just two weeks after a near-identical case.
In the footage, a woman aged in her fifties strolls calmly down the aisle in the freezer section of a Cash & Carry store in Port Elizabeth as if shopping.
But when she gets to the trolley of the 23-year-old mother and 28-year-old father she suddenly outstretches her arms towards the toddler.
In just one second the baby is grabbed under the arms and whisked out of the trolley and into a ‘motherly cuddle’ by the alleged kidnapper.
Then the woman, who was subsequently arrested before she could get out of the store along with an alleged accomplice, walks away with the little girl.
Moments later the couple turn round to put some frozen food in their trolley and see their daughter had been stolen and scream out loudly for help.
The quick-thinking father sprints to the front doors of the store in Cleary Park and tells the security guards his baby has been snatched and he locks the doors.
Just as the doors slam shut a woman approaches the distraught father and points out her daughter being carried by her friend and claims it was all a ‘joke’.
The woman aged in her fifties strolls calmly down the aisle in the freezer section of a Cash & Carry store in Port Elizabeth as if shopping and stretches her arms out to grab the toddler
In just one second the baby is grabbed under the arms and whisked out of the trolley and into a ‘motherly cuddle’ by the cool and collected alleged kidnapper
The parents – who have never seen the two women aged 51 and 56 before – grab their daughter back and the security staff immediately call in the police.
Both women were arrested on suspicion of attempted kidnapping and taken to the police station where they still maintained they were ‘just fooling about’.
Colonel Priscilla Naidu said that after reviewing the CCTV one of the women is seen passing the trolley and touches the baby’s head and then walks away.
She said: ‘Within seconds another female approached and in the blink of an eye snatched the child and walked away as the parents were at the fridges.
‘Their backs were to the trolley and the child was gone in a second then the father turned around and saw his baby was missing and ran to the doors.
‘As the guard was closing the doors the first woman pointed out to the father that the child was with the second suspect and said they were ‘just joking’.
The quick-thinking father sprints to the front doors of the store in Cleary Park and tells the security guards his baby has been snatched and he locks the doors. Just as the doors slam shut a woman approaches the distraught dad and points out her daughter being carried by her friend and claims it was all a ‘joke’
‘Two women aged 51 and 56 were detained while we investigate an alleged kidnapping’ she said.
Naidu said the two women and the parents did not know each other.
It comes as just 18 days ago a similar snatch made UK headlines when mum-of-two Danielle Wolff posted a store CCTV of her baby daughter being snatched on Facebook.
Mother-of-two Daniella Wolff had placed her daughter in the child seat of her shopping trolley as she selected items from the chilled meat fridges at her local SuperSpar store in the city of Alberton, near Johannesburg.
But as she turned her back to open the glass door and bent down to pick up the meat, a male shop employee calmly walked over and snatched her baby from the shopping trolley.
CCTV shows the butchery assistant lifting the baby out of the trolley and walking away with the youngster in his arms.
Mother-of-two Daniella Wolff had placed her daughter in the child seat of her shopping trolley as she selected items from the chilled meat fridges at her local SuperSpar store in the city of Alberton, near Johannesburg
But as she turned her back to open the glass door and bent down to pick up the meant, a shop employee calmly walked over and snatched her baby from the shopping trolley
The store employee is seen carrying the baby away from her mother in the South African store
Mother-of-two Daniella Wolff with her husband Bradley
Wolff, of Alberton, is seen turning around to put the food in the trolley but is horrified to find her eight-month-old daughter missing.
As Wolff shouts out in horror, she quickly turns around and sees her daughter being carried away by the store employee who was trying to walk out of sight behind a grocery aisle.
Wolff ran up to the employee and grabbed her baby from him while shouting: ‘Where were you taking her? What were you going to do with her?’
The shaken mother posted the CCTV from the SuperSpar security office on her Facebook and gave her own account of what happened.
She said: ‘I have her in my arms and when I get to the meat section I place her in the trolley to free my hands and when I find what I’m look for I bend down.
‘Within an instant, a stranger is seen in the video taking my daughter.I look up and she’s gone.I immediately look for her and find her in the arms of this man.
‘I’m able to grab her from him and say what he is doing with my daughter? Why does he have her? He is smiling and laughing and I say it isn’t a joke and it’s not amusing.
‘He tells me he walked past the trolley and my daughter’s arms were up so he picked her up.I am frozen and confused.Why is he laughing? I tell him it’s not funny.
Wolff, of Alberton, is seen turning around to put the food in the trolley but is horrified to find her eight-month-old daughter missing
As Wolff shouts out in horror, she quickly turns around and sees her daughter being carried away by the store employee who was trying to walk out of site behind a grocery aisle. Wolff ran up to the employee and grabbed her baby from him while shouting: ‘Where were you taking her? What were you going to do with her?’
‘You don’t touch a child, you don’t take a child. I am unsure what to do next and the man again approaches me to ‘demonstrate’ what my daughter was doing.
‘He said she wanted to go with him and I am so angry, shocked, hysterical and I’m shouting ‘Where were you taking her? What were you going to do with her?”
Wolff called her husband Bradley who rushed to the SuperSpar and after reviewing the CCTV footage insisted on reporting a case of attempted baby snatching.
The South African Police Service were called and after seeing the video arrested the member of staff, Mduduzi Tholebaon, suspicion of kidnapping.
He appeared in court and was bailed and suspended from the SuperSpar for allegedly snatching Danielle and her husband Bradley’s baby from a trolley.
A spokesman for SuperSpar said: ‘We have provided the CCTV footage to the police and management are fully co-operating with the authorities in their investigation.
‘We are extremely relieved a reported case of baby snatching was foiled on Sunday and we can confirm we immediately decided to suspend one member of staff.
‘We will take further action based on the results of the ongoing investigation and the SPAR group is reaching out to the family to offer any help they need including counselling.
‘The SPAR group adopts a zero-tolerance approach to crime and will ensure the strongest possible consequences to those commit crimes in our stores to ensure customer safety’.
The videos of the double attempted kidnappings has shocked South Africa in a crime riddled nation where baby and child trafficking is now big business.