Dutch police who are trying to trace the identity of an unknown child say they have had several tips after a television appeal.

The photos of the boy, said to be aged between four and nine, turned up as part of a criminal investigation. The child is likely to be Dutch, ‘given the interior of the home looks Dutch and there is an Albert Heijn plastic bag,’ a police spokesman said.

Police have not said why they are looking for the boy. However, ‘there is a reason we are trying to identify him as quickly as we can,’ the spokesman said.

The police have put several photos online, some of which have been altered – but not by the police themselves.

Efforts to trace the child have so far failed, hence the public appeal, police said.