The baby, Esther Zulamita, was taken by armed men in 2007 at her family's shoe shop. Her mother, Ms Ana Escobar, has spent the past year searching for the child.

In May, Ms Escobar saw the toddler with an American woman who was adopting the girl.

She pressed authorities to check the DNA samples on file, and they found they were falsified. New tests proved Ms Escobar was the mother.

It has long been suspected that some children were stolen to be put up for adoption in Guatemala. Adoption official Jaime Tecu announced on Wednesday the first irrefutable evidence of the practice. -- AP