LAHORE: The police finally traced the female suspect who kidnapped a newborn baby girl from the paediatric ward of the Mayo Hospital a few days back, recovered the two-day-old from her house and handed her over to her mother.

As per police sources, a joint team comprising the officials of operations and the investigation wings of police examined the data from more than 500 private and the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) cameras within a radius of nearly 22 kilometres of the hospital to track down the suspect, identified as Razia Bibi.

They say the police team raided the suspect’s house at Bamby Jhugian locality in Shadbagh area early on Tuesday at around 3:30am and took her into custody.

City Division Operations SP Bilal Ahmad told Dawn that a the police began to track down the suspect through the private and PSCA cameras installed in and around the hospital.

Police analysed data from over 500 CCTV cameras to arrest the suspect

He said the white rings attached to the suspect’s shoes helped the police trace her near New Anarkali Bazaar, declaring it a turning point in the investigations. However, the suspect suddenly went out of the camera range, dashing hopes of the team working on the case, he added.

A private camera installed alongside a road captured a woman wearing shoes with white rings hiring a rickshaw and carrying the kidnapped baby, he said.

The white rings on the suspect’s shoes had a close resemblance with the picture of the woman the police had obtained from the hospital, the SP said.

The police, he said, began to track down the rickshaw and finally traced it again at Shahdara Mor.

SP Bilal said that the suspect was so smart that she changed more than three rickshaws and 15 motorcycle-rickshaws while covering the 22km distance to reach her Shadbagh residence from the Mayo Hospital, to dodge the police.

“We deployed multiple teams to trace the woman, which examined more than 500 private and PSCA’s cameras,” the SP said.

Sharing further details, Mr Bilal said the woman kidnapped the baby at 3:17pm and walked to the Nila Gumbad and then New Anarkali.

After passing through various densely populated localities, including Sabzi Mandi, Aik Moria Pul and China Scheme, the woman, who was wearing a mask, finally reached her home in Bamby Jhughian, he said. She took nearly three to four hours to reach her home from the Mayo Hospital, the SP added.

The police officer revealed that it was the second attempt by the woman to kidnap a baby from a hospital. Earlier, he said, she had visited the Government Kot Khwaja Saeed Hospital, where she interacted with some other women, including the employees of the health facility.

About the suspect, Mr Bilal said that the 45-year-old woman was married to a 25-year old man, but she was probably unable to conceive due to the age factor.

He said Operations DIG Faisal Kamran had deployed multiple teams, including the PSCA officials, to monitor the surveillance cameras to trace the kidnapper.

The DIG handed over the recovered baby to her mother at the Mayo Hospital and ordered the police to grill the suspect’s husband as well to find out whether he too had a role in the kidnapping, the SP said.

It was the second case of kidnap of a newborn which was traced by the police this month.

Earlier, the police had traced and arrested a woman who allegedly kidnapped a newborn from the Lahore General Hospital, and recovered the baby.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2025