A nursing technician who faked being pregnant was caught stealing a newborn baby from a maternity ward in Brazil. 

Nursing technician Auricelia de Sousa Rocha, an employee at the Evangelina Rosa Maternity Hospital in Teresina, was on medical leave but was able to access her workplace using facial recognition, police said.

Hospital CCTV footage shows the suspect carrying the newborn baby through the halls of the maternity ward before she is confronted after the infant was allegedly discovered inside her bag.

Investigators said she approached several mothers before convincing the baby’s 14-year-old mother that the infant needed routine examinations, including the standard heel-prick blood test.

The baby’s aunt, Daniela Beatriz, accompanied Rocha while the teenage mother remained in her room recovering after giving birth.

Daniela said Rocha led her to another floor before asking her to wait outside a room while she took the baby inside.

Speaking to local media, Daniela said: ‘She told me, ‘I’m going in here, but you have to stay outside because they can’t see you here. Sit on the bench, and I’ll be right back with her.’

‘She already had that large black bag over her shoulder, and although I handed over the baby, I already had a bad feeling.’

A nursing technician who faked being pregnant was caught stealing a newborn baby from a maternity ward in Brazil

Hospital CCTV footage shows the suspect carrying the newborn baby through the halls of the maternity ward

Investigators said she approached several mothers before convincing the baby’s 14-year-old mother that the infant needed routine examinations

According to Daniela, Rocha later emerged wearing a denim dress and beige flats instead of her work clothes and headed towards a bathroom carrying the large black bag.

Daniela said: ‘I pulled the bag and saw the baby inside, very quiet.’

Police said hospital employees reported the alleged attempted abduction, allowing detectives from the Child and Adolescent Protection Unit (DPCA) to identify the suspect and obtain a preventive arrest warrant.

Police found Rocha’s family had admitted her to the Areolino de Abreu Psychiatric Hospital in northern Teresina a day after the abduction on July 7, and she was arrested the next day.

During a search of her home, officers found a fully equipped nursery containing a cot, a baby bath, nappies and baby clothes.

Investigators also said Rocha had been pretending to be pregnant for months and had convinced relatives, friends and her former partner that she was expecting a baby.

Police said her ex-boyfriend had even helped buy items for the nursery, while medical examinations confirmed she was not pregnant.

The Regional Nursing Council of Piaui suspended Rocha’s professional registration, preventing her from working while its ethical investigation continues.

The baby was later found inside the suspect’s bag (pictured) 

Police said the motive for the alleged attempted kidnapping remained under investigation.

The shocking incident comes after a woman posing as a nurse was arrested after she allegedly kidnapped a newborn from a hospital in Paraguay last year.

It was a terrifying three and a half hours before police captured the baby snatcher and returned the child to her mother.

Natalia González, 39, was allegedly caught on surveillance camera carrying the one-day-old from a room at Barrio Obrero Hospital in Asunción last January. 

González, a mother of two who resides in the Argentine province of Formosa, rushed out of the medical facility and boarded a bus to Mercado 4, a street market, where she then hopped on a taxi to the neighbourhood of Loma Pyta, authorities said.

She asked the driver which bus she needed to take to reach the town of Nanawa, near the border of Argentina. González was spotted just 164 feet from the border crossing when she was arrested by the police.

Cellphone footage showed González holding the baby and sitting on a chair as arresting officers began to question her and remove the baby from her arms.

Two cops could be seen struggling to restrain her before they were finally able to handcuff her.

González later alleged that the baby’s father, Isaias, had offered her 1 million Paraguayan guaranis, about $127, to abduct the girl and hand her over to a man in Nanawa.