Ahmad Legal Civiandi ran away last week following a row with his mother and only returned on Tuesday after a taxi driver recognised him from media pictures and took him back to his family.

He reportedly spent his first night on the run in a shopping mall, treating himself to a PlayStation, toys and a mobile phone, before moving on to a hotel, where he stayed for several nights despite a police hunt for him.

His father said almost none of the cash was left, but that he had forgiven the child for taking it.

'I am just glad he has returned, safe and sound,' Mr Ahmad Budiarto said.

Police had earlier arrested a shopping mall security guard accused of helping the boy change his dollars into Indonesia's currency, the rupiah.

But Mr Budiarto said he had dropped a police complaint, allowing the man to be released. -- AFP