Scrap collector finds newborn baby outside Melaka restaurant

MELAKA: A scrap collector has found a newborn baby in a laundry basket in front of a restaurant in Batu Berendam here.

Melaka Tengah deputy OCPD Supt Raiz Mukhliz Azman Aziz said police were alerted to the discovery at 7.15am on Friday (Feb 4).

He said the female scrap collector had heard the baby girl crying before she found her.

"The woman then sought help at a nearby clinic to inform the police and call for an ambulance," he said.

Supt Raiz Mukhliz added that the baby was taken to the hospital for observation.

"We believe the baby was abandoned just a few hours after she was born," he said.

He said the case would be investigated under Section 317 of the Penal Code for an offence of exposure and abandonment of a child under 12 years by parent or person having care of it.