A step-father and his alleged female accomplice have been charged for allegedly abducting his five-year-old step-son in Nakara last week, NT Police have said.

NT Police media manager Margaret McKeown said in a statement on Sunday Child Abuse Task Force detectives charged the the 37-year-old step-father and 56-year-old woman, who police described as being “known to the child”, with abducting a child under 16, and recklessly endangering serious harm.

She said both were remanded to appear in Darwin Local Court on Monday.

In a media release on Saturday Ms McKeown said that about 3pm on Friday, the five-year-old boy was allegedly abducted from Witherden St, Nakara, by the two.

“As the boy was being placed in a vehicle, his mother allegedly intervened and fell to the road from the fleeing vehicle. She was conveyed to Royal Darwin Hospital in a stable condition,” Ms McKeown said.

Sex Crimes Division and Strike Force Trident detectives, and general duties officers from Adelaide River and Batchelor, began tracking the vehicle, she said, and at 5:30pm, the pair were intercepted and arrested shortly after they turned onto Cox Peninsula Rd..

Ms McKeown said the child was found safe and well inside the vehicle.