Wellington  - As the hunt for a missing 2-year-old New Zealand girl went into its fifth day Friday, police said she could have been abducted to order.

Aisling Symes disappeared late Monday afternoon while her parents were gardening in suburban Henderson, 16 kilometres from central Auckland.

An extensive search by police and volunteers, including a helicopter and combing of a nearby stream, found no trace of her, and Police Inspector Gary Davey said it looked as though she had been kidnapped.

"Abduction is more likely than her wandering off, given the thoroughness of our search," he said.

Davey said he could not rule out the possibility that she had been stolen to order, but police were keeping an open mind on her disappearance.

The friendly toddler was last reported to have been seen with an Asian woman holding a dog on a lead, but that person has not come forward despite appeals on local Asian radio stations.

Checks of women with Asian names registered as dog owners have produced a blank.

As the girl's grief-stricken parents, Alan and Angela Symes, appealed for her return at a Thursday news conference, police said they had many calls from the public about Asians seen with European children.

"We don't want the public persecuting Asian women walking down the road," Davey said, urging people to report "sightings that are out of the ordinary" or fit the description witnesses gave of the mystery woman with a dog. (dpa)