A six-year-old girl was picked up by a police patrol on Christmas Eve after she was found walking in a Żejtun street, clutching a toy.
Sources said the girl had apparently been asleep in a car while her father stopped for a drink in a bar.
She woke up, and on finding herself alone, got out of the car.
The officers took her to the Żejtun police station and managed to track down her father. He was questioned and the daughter was then handed back to him.
Police are investigating.