A two-day-old baby girl was recovered by Police unharmed yesterday after she was kidnapped from the maternity ward of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The newborn's 28-year-old father, who led "several'' Police units on a dramatic foot chase through Pembroke with the baby in his arms, has been arrested in connection with the abduction and is currently in custody.

Her unidentified mother has also been implicated in the mid-afternoon snatching.

The couple was said by Police to have been "in contravention of a court order'' when the baby was taken from the hospital.

The 20-minute kidnapping drama, which Police are still investigating, began when two men entered the mother's first-floor hospital room shortly before 2 p.m. yesterday and made off with the infant, hospital spokesman Mrs. Kendaree Burgess-Fairn said.

Although a number of extra security guards had been assigned to the maternity ward, it was "one of the housekeeping staff'' who first noticed that the baby was being abducted, she added.

"They (the security guards) were doing rounds on the floor,'' Mrs.

Burgess-Fairn said. "They could have been on the other side (of the maternity ward).'' She told The Royal Gazette that additional security had been installed at the hospital after Family Services warned hospital officials that a kidnapping might take place.

"We did know that something like this might happen,'' said Mrs.

Burgess-Fairn, who did not give the reason for the court order or the Family Services warning.

After the baby was taken from maternity, "the couple was seen leaving the hospital in a taxi'', Police spokesman P.c. Gary Venning said last night.

A patrolling Police Officer "promptly'' alerted other units, resulting "in the taxi being stopped on St. Augustine Hill''.

At that point, the father of the baby was reported to have jumped out of the taxi with the infant in his arms, leading Police on a brief but tension-filled foot chase through the St. Augustine Road area.

A resident of Pembroke, the father was eventually captured by the officers and arrested, while the infant, who was not injured in the ordeal, was safely back at the hospital by 2.20 p.m.

This morning, the unidentified baby is in the custody of Family Services.

She will be placed in the care of a foster family when the hospital releases her.

Yesterday, Mrs. Burgess-Fairn said the hospital will seek a restraining order against the child's parents to prevent another abduction attempt.

Mrs. Sheila Manderson, the executive director of the Bermuda Hospitals Board, added that a review of security on the maternity ward has been ordered.