A search is under way for a newborn baby who was “kidnapped” while her mother paid for goods at a shop in Pietermaritzburg, the SA Community Crime Watch group said on Wednesday.

The girl, who was four days old at the time, went missing on Friday, shortly after leaving a clinic with her mother.

She was dressed in a pink babygro and wrapped in a yellow blanket..

Police confirmed they were investigating a case of kidnapping. 

Police spokesperson Col Thembeka Mbele said the mother was essentially tricked into handing over her child. 

"She was at a clinic in Pietermaritzburg, taking her newborn baby girl for a check-up, when she was approached by the unknown woman dressed in a maroon dress. The suspect lured the mother to the shop to buy a certain dress, while asking to hold the baby,” said Mbele.

“She asked the mother to stand in the queue to make a payment. The suspect fled the scene with the baby,” Mbele added. 

This is a developing story.