A man has been accused of kidnapping two children from their Melbourne home and tying up and gagging their mother.

The 36-year-old Mitcham man was arrested on Tuesday and charged with several offences, including two counts of kidnapping, aggravated burglary, armed robbery and false imprisonment.

He will face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Victoria Police allege the man bound and gagged the children’s mother, 32, before leaving the Blackburn North home in the family’s black Mercedes Benz car with the five-year-old girl and three-year-old boy.

The children were found about 12 hours later at a home on Cochrane Street in nearby Mitcham and police arrested three men and a woman at the scene.

Two men and a woman have since been released without charge.

Police are treating the matter as a targeted incident.