AN ARMED robber stopped ransacking a house to feed a crying baby.

Kojek Mista and four other men broke into a home in Tangarang, 20 miles from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, last month armed with guns, swords, knives and crowbars.

But Mista became concerned when the baby woke in tears after his mother and nanny were tied up.

Kojek told Indonesian reporters that he and his accomplices broke into the house in the early hours of the morning by climbing over a wall.

"The housemaid woke up, so I covered her mouth and then bound her arms and legs. I stuck the duct tape on her mouth" he said.

"There were two housemaids, but the other one didn't awake, so we let her be."

Mrs Lewa, who owns the house, woke to see the criminals in her room. She screamed, had a gun pointed at her and was tied up, and the commotion woke her baby boy.

At a police press conference in Jakarta, Mista, who faces ten years in jail, said: "I asked his mother how to make him stop crying. She said he had to be fed with milk. I gave it to the baby while cradling him. Not long after, the baby fell asleep so I put him in bed. I have a kid, so I know how to cradle a baby."

The gang escaped with items worth $5000, but four were later arrested and one was shot dead by police.