A UN official who was held up at gunpoint with his family and robbed of his car at a Kuala Lumpur shopping mall said today that the attack has sent shockwaves through the diplomatic community.

United Nations Development Programme resident representative Richard Leete said the incident occurred during a visit to the upmarket suburb of Bangsar on Sunday morning.

They were loading groceries into their luxury BMW X5 vehicle which was parked outside a popular shopping centre when they were approached by a man.

"He demanded the keys to my car and I hesitated at first, weighing up my options. But then he revealed his gun under his T-shirt and aimed it at me," Leete told AFP.

Leete, who was with his wife, eight-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter, handed over the keys to his car, which bears diplomatic plates and is worth over RM200,000.

Leete described the crime as a "crime of affluence" and not a "crime of poverty", saying the robber "knew exactly what he was doing. His determination was shocking."

"In my interpretation, it was driven by greed and not necessity. This was not someone in poverty and desperate for his next meal," he said, adding that he believed the culprit was part of a syndicate.

"What is particularly alarming is that is that it happened in broad daylight. It was a traumatic experience particularly for my two children," he said. "It has sent shockwaves through the diplomatic community."

Unmanned police booth

A police booth in front of the shopping centre was unmanned at the time of the incident, he said.

The booth was set up after a 28-year-old US-based IT analyst was abducted from the shopping complex in a grisly murder case in June 2003 that shocked the nation.

Canny Ong, a Malaysian married to a US citizen, was abducted in the parking lot of the shopping mall. She was raped and murdered, and her burnt body was found several days later in a manhole.

A man was sentenced to death in February for the murder.