Heartbroken

A German woman was robbed of her valuables in the capital's Dhanmondi on Thursday morning, a day before she left Bangladesh.

Swinde Wiederhold lost her laptop, camera, credit card and two hard drives that contained numerous photos she captured during her five-month stay in Bangladesh, police said.

She filed a case with Dhanmondi Police Station on that day and left the country on Friday. Before leaving, she gave police her contact details, said Abdul Latif, officer-in-charge of the police station.

Quoting the case statement, the OC said the incident happened when Swinde was heading towards her rented house in a rickshaw. All of a sudden, a man from a white car snatched away her backpack. The vehicle then sped away.

“We could not identify the car and the muggers. But we are trying our best,” Abdul said.

Police were collecting footage of CCTVs installed near the scene and making a list of the suspects, he said.

Meanwhile, a frustrated Swinde took to Instagram to describe the incident.

“Monsoon clouds are building up in the sky and soon there will be a powerful downpour. Today it rained heavily on myself. Not from the sky. But from an incident which happened this morning when I took a Rickshaw home.

“I don't know if those people have a clue what they just did. How shall I come back home now and tell my friends and family how nice Bangladesh is and how friendly the people and how easy to travel? This robbery will place a dark cloud over my entire experience here in Bangladesh,” she wrote hours before she left the country.

"No, it's not all safe to travel. No, it's better not to travel alone. No, you shouldn't take a ride on a Rickshaw in early morning or later in the evening… I'm deeply hurt, emotionally heartbroken and will have to think about my mostly positive attitude towards everyone.

“And I don't mind the materialistic things but my pictures and my work within those 5 months. I visited a floating hospital operating along the Char Islands. Bringing help to the poorest of the poor. I spend many exhausting days at a shipyard, documenting insanely weak working circumstances.

I did this all with a good intention in my mind. To publish those issues, to bring them out to the people and to provide help in different kind of forms. Now the only thing I can tell is to watch out and to be careful for your own self. It rained heavily on myself today. Tears running from my eyes. I will fly home in a few hours. #bangladesh”