Photo: A Roma couple was charged last week with the abduction of blonde girl Maria. (Reuters: Greek Police)
Related Story: Irish Roma child found in similar case to Greece's Maria
Related Story: Greek Roma couple held on abduction charges
Related Story: Roma couple say mother gave up mystery girl to them
A Roma couple is being questioned by police on the Greek island of Lesbos on suspicion of kidnapping a baby, just a week after the discovery of a girl dubbed the "blonde angel" made headlines around the world.
A 21-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman were detained for questioning, along with the man's 51-year-old mother, according to Panagiotis Kordonouris, police chief for the North Aegean region.
"They were arrested as they were trying to register the child with fake documents," he said.
The couple reportedly tried to obtain a birth certificate for the baby only with a signed statement, as is possible in Greece, instead of producing hospital records, which made municipal employees suspicious.
Mr Kordonouris said the trio eventually admitted the child was not theirs and said the baby was given to them in central Athens at the end of July by another Roma woman.
The Supreme Court has ordered prosecutors across the country to be alert for any discrepancies in birth certificates going back six years after blonde, blue-eyed Maria was found during a raid on a Roma camp in central Greece last week.
Police say there is evidence a 40-year-old woman and 39-year-old man used false IDs to register Maria as their own, saying she was born at home.
DNA tests have shown they are not her biological parents.
The couple, who say the girl was given to them by her mother who could not look after her, has been charged with abducting a minor and detained pending trial.
A separate case emerged this week involving a blonde, blue-eyed girl living with a Roma family in Dublin, Ireland.
That girl, aged 7, was removed from the Roma family's custody after police became concerned she was not related to them.
Interpol assisting in Maria investigation
Maria's case led to thousands of calls to police from people around the world, including Australia, trying to identify her or search for their own missing children.
At the request of the Greek authorities, Interpol has issued a so-called "yellow notice" with the picture of the girl and has urged its 190 member countries to test her DNA profile against their own national database.
"Interpol will make its DNA Gateway available to any member country whose law enforcement agency has been provided with the profile of someone claiming to be a blood relative of the unknown child," the agency said in a statement.
The Greek charity Smile of the Child has been looking after Maria since she was found by police last week.
"She is much better. Day after day, she is adapting to the new environment," charity head Costas Giannopoulos said.
In a parallel case in Ireland, police took a 7-year-old blonde girl living with a Roma family into care on Monday after suspicions she was not a blood relative, a senior police source said.
However, the BBC is reporting that DNA tests have now established that the girl is a biological member of the Roma family, who are based in Dublin.
AFP/Reuters
