US woman in custody after trying to smuggle 6-day-old Filipino infant out of airport

An American woman is in custody in the Philippines after she allegedly tried to fly out of the country with a baby in her hand luggage, local authorities said. Photo / CNN

An American woman is in police custody in the Philippines after she allegedly tried to smuggle a 6-day-old Filipino infant out of the country in her hand luggage.

Philippines Immigration Bureau spokesman Melvin Mabulac said they received a report around 6.20am Wednesday that a 43-year-old woman had been caught with a child in her bag at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.

Mabulac said the woman was travelling alone. When going through security she presented her own passport, but when staff inspected her oversized carry-on suitcase, they found the infant inside.

When questioned about the infant, the woman said she was the child's aunty.

An American woman is in custody in the Philippines after she allegedly tried to fly out of the country with a baby in her hand luggage, local authorities said. Photo / CNN

"She did not have any travel documents for the infant," the spokesman said.

"We assume that she was holding the child when she came to the airport so that the child wouldn't be detected by the X-ray screeners.

"However, she hid the child when she went to the airline's counter, and while undergoing the immigration procedure," he said.

CCTV still released by the Philippines Immigration Bureau of the American woman before she was stopped by officials. Photo / Philippines Immigration Bureau

No evidence has been provided suggesting the pair are related.

The case has been handed over to the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation's Anti-Human Trafficking Division.