Toddler kidnapped when his grandmother looks away for just a few seconds in supermarket

In a chilling incident, a two-year-old boy was kidnapped while his grandmother turned her back for just a few seconds in a South African supermarket this week, according to a Daily Mail report.

CCTV footage shows a guard picking up the unnamed boy from a shopping trolley as his grandmother is at the till at the The Crescent mall in Umhlanga, Durban. Upon realising the boy was gone, she dashed outside and caught the fleeing guard and retrieved her grandson.

He has now been charged with kidnapping and police say his motivations are ‘unclear’.

The footage shows a uniformed guard on patrol walking up to the 57-year-old woman’s trolley.  Moments later, he gently lifts the blonde-haired boy and takes him into his arms, in the clip from December 22.

He is then seen walking out the front door cradling the boy and leaving the shopping trolley empty.

The grandmother turns round and finds her grandson missing and screams that he has been stolen and frantically looks around. She runs out the front door and spots the security guard walking into another shop with her grandson in his arms.

Seconds later, she walks back into the store holding onto her grandson. She places him back into the trolley and mutters before putting her hands to her face and breaking down in tears.

Brigadier Jay Naicker of the South African Police said: ‘When the petrified gran found the child was taken she began running and frantically screaming out for him.

‘She then spotted the man attired in a security guards uniform walking into one of the shops with her grandson and chased after him and yanked him from his arms.’

The grandmother reported the incident to Crescent Mall’s management who contacted the police and immediately identified him as a supermarket guard.

The accused was arrested and charged with kidnapping, and is due to appear before magistrates today for allegedly trying to steal the young child.