Girl snatched in shopping mall

A hunt is on for a couple after a 3-year-old girl was snatched from her mother's side at the Coastlands Mall in Paraparaumu yesterday.

Police said the girl and her mother were shopping when a woman grabbed the girl and ran off.

The mother chased her and grabbed her daughter back.

Police said the women did not know each other and a motive was unclear.

The abductor appeared to be with a European man, aged in his 50s.

She was described as in her early 20s, about 1.73m tall, with long dark brown hair and dressed all in black.