Shocked Vancouver police have arrested and released a couple who allegedly offered to sell a seven-day-old baby girl on the Craigslist website for $10,000.

"In my 27 years in policing, this is something I thought I would never see,'' Vancouver Police Dept. Const. Tim Fanning told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday morning.

Fanning said police were tipped off on Friday by a Maple Ridge, B.C., woman who phoned to complain about the ad, which described the baby as "very cute,'' and said it was looking for a good home.

Using a cell phone number that was posted on the ad, police eventually found the baby in a Vancouver West End apartment, which was occupied by four adults including a 23-year-old mother who was breastfeeding the infant when police arrived.

"This is very disturbing on so many levels,'' said Fanning. The mother and a 26-year-old, Port Coquitlam man were arrested and initially charged with public mischief. But the couple were later released and the charges have since been dropped for lack of evidence.

The man and woman claimed that the ad was a hoax. Meanwhile, Fanning said the baby was taken into care by the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development.

But Children's Minister Tom Christensen says privacy rules prevent him from saying where the child is.

With files from The Canadian Press