KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - On the day when she was being named the new Deputy Human Resources Minister, Datuk Noraini Ahmad was at the police station lodging a break-in report.

She incurred losses amounting to RM12,000 ($5,221) when two men broke into her Toyota Estima and stole her laptop and stereo set yesterday.

The incident happened about 8.30am, some 100 metres from the market in Jalan Tun Muhammad Fuad in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

According to Noraini's driver, who refused to be identified, he was having a drink at a nearby stall when he heard a commotion.

"I ran to the car to find a window smashed and the dashboard damaged," he said at the Taman Tun Dr Ismail police station where he had accompanied Noraini to lodge the report.

Noraini, who is also Puteri Umno chief, said she found out that two teenage girls had seen two men on a motorcycle riding up to the car, before shattering the window with a piece of wood.

"One of the youths started ransacking the car while the other waited on his motorcycle. The girls alerted a security guard who tried to nab one of the suspects but the guard was attacked by the two who were armed with sticks," Noraini said.

The suspects, both believed to be in their 20s, fled on a red-coloured motorcycle.

Brickfields police chief ACP Wan Abdul Bari Wan Abdul Khalid confirmed the incident and said no arrests had been made yet.