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A woman was arrested after she was discovered hiding a four-year-old girl in her hand luggage on a flight after she was banned from taking the child out of the country.

Passengers and crew on the Air France flight AF1891 from Istanbul to Paris on Monday night were shocked when they discovered the girl moving in a woman's luggage.

The child was hidden in the bag and 'did not have a ticket', Planet.fr reported.

It was originally thought the child was about one or two, but it later emerged she was a four-year-old from Haiti.

The woman later explained she was in the process of adopting the child and had wanted to take her back to France where she lived, according to a source at the airport.

According to Figaro , the same source said the woman was probably in the flight connections area at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul and had passed through security when she was denied permission to board with the child.

It was then that she "decided to hide the child in her hand luggage to board another flight after having bought another ticket for that flight".

Once inside the plane she had placed the bag under her feet under a cover, but the little girl needed the toilet and she was spotted moving by other passengers.

After the discovery was made by passenger, who saw the bag moving, cabin crew were alerted and escorted the woman and the baby to the front of the plane.

The flight from Ataturk Airport in Turkey was mid-way through its flight when the baby was found.

A witness told Planet.fr: "The cloth bag belonged to a woman sitting at the back of the unit.

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(Image: REUTERS)

"At one point, she wanted to open it and its neighbour on the other row seats saw that something was moving inside."

The passenger who saw the bag moving was said to be 'very shocked'.

Another witness said an announcement was not made by crew to 'reassure passengers'.

A spokesman for Air France said the child was 'without a ticket'.

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They added: "The company requested the presence of the French authorities to flight arrival and fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation by the competent authorities."

The woman and child were met by the police when they arrived at Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport.

She was arrested and interrogated but the authorities decided not to press charges.