A 65-year-old woman in the north-central Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa has been arrested for her alleged involvement in the abduction and murder of her own 20-day-old granddaughter.

Officers from the provincial police department have apprehended Pham Thi Xuan, 65, to assist their investigation into the kidnap and murder of her son’s newborn baby.

Xuan was identified as the prime suspect in the case, police said on Tuesday.

The suspect had killed the child and made up a story of her being kidnapped to distract investigators, according to officers.

She allegedly committed the murder out of superstitious beliefs, according to a source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Colonel Khuong Duy Oanh, deputy director of the Thanh Hoa police department,  said an official announcement will be sent to local media once the investigation is concluded.

Le Huu Thuan, 37, and his wife Pham Thi Thanh Huyen, 38, previously reported the kidnapping of their infant child on the evening of November 25.

An ambulance arrives at the landfill site where the body of the child was found. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Earlier the same day, Xuan, who is Thuan’s mother, had been holding her grandchild in the living room of their house in Bac Son Ward, Bim Son Commune, when she claimed that a man and a woman, whose faces were covered by masks, stormed into the house.

The man is said to have threatened Xuan with a knife, while the woman forced a towel into her mouth to keep her quiet.

Xuan claimed to have been grabbed by the hair and dragged outside before the pair snatched the infant.

The grandmother then fell to the ground after being knocked unconscious.

This version of events was identified as being faked by the grandmother and such kidnappers did not exist.

On the morning of November 27, officers located the body of a baby girl at a local landfill site, later identified as the abducted infant.

Following the identification, the deceased child was brought home.

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