Parents have been warned to be extra vigilant after a Durban child was snatched by a security guard allegedly employed at Umhlanga Mall.

The two-year-old child was in a shopping cart accompanied by his grandmother. CCTV footage shows how the incident unfolded. The grandmother is distracted at a counter in the Umhlanga Crescent Pick n Pay store.

The man, identified as a security guard working at the mall, approaches and removes the child from the shopping trolley and walks out of the store, moments later the 57-year-old grandmother realises the child is gone and becomes visibly distressed.

The video shows how quickly such an incident can take place and should act as a warning.

Watch: a two-year-old child snatched from a shopping trolley

Attempted child kidnapping last week at a supermarket in Umhlanga KZN. pic.twitter.com/vHYHD9bv7m — Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) December 23, 2019

“A Durban security guard, employed at an Umhlanga mall, is due to appear in the Verulam magistrate’s court on Monday after he was allegedly caught trying to steal a child,” KwaZulu-Natal police said in a statement issued on Sunday 23 December. “[The] 57-year-old grandmother was with her grandson making a purchase when an unknown man picked up her grandson, who was sitting in the trolley, and walked away,” said Brigadier Jay Naicker. “When the petrified grandmother found that the child was taken, she began running in the mall, frantically screaming out for him. She then spotted the man attired in a security guard’s uniform walking into one of the shops with her grandson.”

Police say that the grandmother spotted the man entering another store at the Crescent and chased after him, catching up to him and yanking the child from his arms.

“She reported the incident to the mall management, who contacted police. Police officers from the Durban North police station arrived at the scene and viewed the CCTV footage at the mall,” said Naicker. “The suspect was immediately identified as a security guard who was on duty at the mall and he was promptly arrested. A case of kidnapping was opened at Durban North police station.”

Shoppers warned to be vigilant in public spaces

KZN SAPS police commissioner Lt-Gen Khombinkosi Jula issued a warning shoppers to be extra vigilant at this time.