Bogota, Sep 3: In an rare and shocking incident, a 19-yer-old Colombian pregnant lady's unborn, premature baby was stolen after she was drugged and cut open, as said by the authorities in the northern province of Magdalena.

Andrea Carolina Pallares Cabrera, seven months pregnant, was in Santa Marta doing some personal errands when she was approached by an unknown woman who offered to help her enroll her baby in a public health programme.

Police Col. Cesar Granados said that Pallares was taken to a wooded area outside Santa Marta, where the incident took place. They used some instruments to cut open the mother's womb, removed the infant from her womb and left her stranded.

The injured woman somewhow managed to reach the highway and approached for help. After being admitted to a hospital, she was again moved to a better-equipped clinic in Santa Marta, where she is in intensive care.

According to a medical report, the woman was admitted with a transverse incision in the abdomen and the uterus open, with blood and sand in the abdominal cavity. She was operated to remove the risk of infection.

Police said that a woman has been arrested in the case, who had been found with a premature baby and who said she had given birth with the aid of a midwife.

A medical exam showed that the woman in custody had not given birth recently, after which the woman admitted that several months ago she had been pregnant, but lost the baby because of the abusive treatment inflicted by her man, who promised to bring her a substitute baby.

"Everything indicates that the baby was stolen from the mother's womb. A DNA test is pending to fully establish the relationship," the police said.

OneIndia News