Girl, 10, drags friend from would-be abductor

A 10-year-old Taranaki girl is being hailed a hero after she dragged her friend from a would-be abductor.

The two girls were walking along Endeavour Street in the New Plymouth suburb of Blagdon, between 10am and noon on Sunday, when a man reached out from flax bushes and grabbed the arm of one of them, Sergeant Terry Johnson told Taranaki Daily News.

It had been fortunate the other 10-year-old had had the presence of mind to grab her friend's free arm and her clothes and the pair managed to escape, Mr Johnson said.

They ran to a nearby house where the sister of one of the girls lived and police were called.

The man's description was sketchy, but he was definitely Caucasian and aged in his late teens or early 20s, Mr Johnson said.

Anyone who had any information relating to the incident was asked to contact police.

"We are looking for anyone in the area that has seen anyone looking suspicious or anyone who might have witnessed what occurred," Mr Johnson said.

The man had obviously hidden himself inside the flax with the intention of targeting the nearest girl and pulling her into the bushes, he said.

"We want to avoid anything else happening. If he is prepared to do that in the middle of the day, we need to speak to him urgently."

The incident follows another last month when a man attempted to entice two eight-year-old girls into his car in the south Taranaki town of Eltham.

Police said he had driven off when he realised the girls' grandmother had seen him.

He was described as being aged in his 30s with light brown hair and driving a dark blue two-door hatchback with a silver stripe along the side.

- NZPA