Car stolen with eight-week-old baby inside in Melbourne

A man who stole a car with an eight-week-old baby boy inside from Melbourne’s north-east, before dumping the car 20 minutes later, is on the run.

CCTV showed the moment the white Hyundai Tucson was taken from outside a medical centre on Bush Boulevard in South Morang about 10.20am.

The boy's mother watched in horror as the car was taken and tried in vain to stop the thief escaping.

Police say the car was dumped at 10.40am outside a Home Maker Centre on Plenty Road, with the baby boy asleep and unharmed inside it.

“It appears to be an opportunistic offence that’s gone pear-shaped pretty quickly,” Acting Sergeant Graeme Wassell said.

“The infant was asleep the whole time and finally woken up by as you can imagine a very distraught mother when she was brought to the scene.”

Sgt Wassell said it was “a lesson learnt the hard way”, reminding other parents not to leave children in the car.

“She’s really hitting herself quite hard that even for a short time she left bubs in the car,” he said.

The offender then ran off after dumping the vehicle, and was last seen near the intersection of McDonalds Road and Plenty Road.

He’s described as Caucasian with light olive skin and was wearing a black T-shirt with a white motive on it.

He also had on a khaki coloured baseball cap, sunglasses and grey tracksuit pants and white runners.

Sgt Wassell said police are scouring extensive CCTV footage in the area to piece together his movements.

Police say he may be carrying a satchel of handbag.

Any witnesses should contact Triple Zero (000).