Sydney, Aug 19 (IANS) A newborn baby girl with the umbilical cord still attached was found stuffed into a shoebox and hidden under a pile of garbage in Sydney Thursday.

A gardener found the body in a garden next to a train line in Strathfield area. The shoebox was partially hidden under a pile of rotting vegetables, Has Rupp, an official with the State Crime Command's Homicide Squad, was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Rupp said police could not yet say whether the baby died of natural causes, and were now trying to find the mother.

Partha Mukherjee, secretary of a nearby building, said the area was a haven for crime. 'It's become a hot spot of crime. There's free feeding for all criminals,' he said.