A desperate mother dressed head-to-toe in Islamic dress and hid her face behind a veil to carry out a daring mission to snatch her daughter back from the child's Egyptian father.
Alex Abou-El-Ella, 29, of Slough, Berkshire, risked everything to rescue her daughter Mona, three, two years after her husband spirited the girl out of Britain and took her to his home country.
She ignored Foreign Office warnings not to travel to the country, which is gripped by civil unrest, tracked down the child and disguised herself as a local to carry out the audacious rescue.
Her success was in large part thanks to the help of British author Donya Al-Nahi, who has been nicknamed Jane Bond for her efforts in helping a string of women rescue children snatched by Arab fathers.
Mrs Abou-El-Ella, who is still married to Mona's father, Mustafa, told the Sunday People of the dramatic moment she snatched back her daughter in the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Dawwar. With the help of Scot-born Mrs Al-Nahi she had tracked down the nursery where Mona was enrolled and the block of flats where she was living with her father's family.
The pair, who had enlisted a trusted driver, sat staking out the block early in the morning until Mona appeared with an aunt and a boy just before 9am. That's when the desperate mother seized her moment. Moving awkwardly in the unfamiliar Islamic dress in which she had disguised her self, she got out of the car and followed them.
'I was walking behind them, faster and faster, and saw Mona's hand a few metres away from me,' she said. 'So I grabbed her, pulled her into my arms and the lady looked at my face - but all she could see were my eyes.' Embracing her child tightly, she turned and fled as the other woman began to scream.
'I was panicking but Donya managed to open it and pull Mona in,' she said. She managed to leap in as well before the woman who she had just snatched Mona from caught up with them and they drove away.
It was then that the confused toddler - who had been away for some two years - cried out for help from the woman she knew as mummy, to Mrs Abou-El-Ella's dismay.
'I felt shocked and upset to hear those words coming out of her mouth about another woman,' she said. 'But after half an hour she looked up at me and said, "Are you my mum?"'
Reunited: Alex and Mona back in Slough. It is just 12 days since the pair arrived back in the UK after the rescue
Lots to catch up on: Mona, three, had not seen
her mother for two years when she came to rescue her, and didn't
recognise her, leading her to call for help from the women she had come
to know as her parent
The subterfuge worked, and they arrived back at Heathrow ten days ago, using Mona's genuine passport to re-enter the UK legally. Mrs Abou-El-Ella has since contacted her husband to tell him that she has their child.
Brushing up on her English: After Mona was taken
Alex could only speak with her by phone with communication becoming
increasingly difficult as the child forgot English and began speaking
more and more in Arabic
Together again: Alex with Mona and her eldest
daughter Olivia, six, whose passport she used to smuggle the toddler out
of Egypt without raising suspicions from border authorities in Cairo
They moved in together and wed in September 2009, three months before Mona was born, with the former Catholic converting to Islam, although she never practised the religion.
Mona was just a year old when Mustafa whisked her off to Egypt, giving his wife no warning of his intentions. He had simply told her he was taking the girl to visit friends.
Instead he had travelled straight to Heathrow airport, bought a ticket and boarded an EgytpAir flight. Mrs Abou-El-Ella still has questions about how he was able to get the Mona through passport control without her own passport.
Invaluable help: Alex with Donya Al-Nahi, who
has been nicknamed Jane Bond for her efforts in helping a string of
women rescue children snatched by Arab fathers
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