An Indian-origin MP in New Zealand was robbed while shopping in Auckland on Friday.
Priyanca Radhakrishnan, a Labour party list MP said a man snatched her handbag in broad daylight while she was out shopping for a dress for her maiden speech in Parliament next week.
Ms Radhakrishnan who was under strict security protocol during her recent tour of Bangladesh said she tried to give her robber a chase but remained unsuccessful. She, however, managed to note down the registration plate of his getaway car.
“Chap jumped out of his car after watching me for a while, snatched my handbag and drove off. The irony is that I've just come back from Bangladesh, which has a high-security alert - and I get mugged here,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
"It's not that I lost anything of great value — except it was my favourite handbag — but it was that sense of violation.
"Firstly of my personal space, but I was also furious that someone would do something so brazen. You don't hear much about that in NZ," Fairfax Media quoted her saying.
Ms Radhakrishnan lost her handbag which contained her phone, credit cards and some cash.
She had some help from the bystanders before the police arrived nearly an hour after the incident who she said were great once they arrived.
Ms Radhakrishnan is a first time MP. She contested from the seat of Maungakiekie in this year’s general election. Though she did not win the seat, she entered parliament as party’s list MP.
