A Roma couple was arrested in a northern Greece city over the abduction of a minor and forgery of birth registration documents, Greek police said on Saturday in a replay of the "Maria affair" which shocked the country last year.

The detained are a 59-year-old man and his 58-year-old wife who were claiming to be the parents of a 10-month-old girl, according to a police statement.

The results of DNA tests showed no match between the child and the supposed parents and the girl has already been tranferred to the care of social services at the city of Katerini, some 450 kilometers north of Athens and 100 kilometers north of the city of Larissa, where Maria's drama unfolded last October.

At a Roma camp at Larissa's outskirts Greek police had discovered in autumn a blonde, blue-eyed four-year-old girl who following an international search was proved to be the biological child of a Bulgarian Roma couple.

The case drew attention to the problematic integration of Romas in Greece and Europe and the shortfalls in the adoption process in Greece.

Maria has ever since being taken care of by Greek social services, while the Greek Roma couple who posed as her biological parents was brought before justice.

Greek police sources said on Saturday that apart from similaties between the two cases, there could be a stronger link between the two childs and their drama.

The detained woman who was arrested for the second case claimed that the child was handed over to her last September by the 41-year-old Greek Roma woman who was claiming to be Maria's mother. DNA tests showed no match between the child and the 41-year-old woman as well and police investigators continue the search for the child's biological parents.

According to judicial sources, the new case came to light during a wider search which was launched after Maria's affair into hundreds of files of child births which have raised suspicions.