Reports that an agile Argentine thief snatched the purse of one of the twin daughters of President Bush while U.S. Secret Service agents were nearby had local media in a buzz Wednesday.
"Bush's bodyguards couldn't handle San Telmo purse-snatcher," read a headline on the Web site of official news agency Telam.
Telam said a government source, who asked not to be named, confirmed reports regarding the robbery. Different local reports said the incident happened on Sunday or Monday.
A law enforcement source briefed on the incident told CNN that Barbara Bush's purse was stolen while she was in Argentina with her twin sister, Jenna. But the source said that "at no point were the protectees out of visual contact and at no point was there any risk of harm."
Barbara Bush, 24, who has the same name as her grandmother, the former first lady, was in a restaurant in the San Telmo neighborhood when her purse was taken, Telam reported.
It was not clear whether she was wearing her purse at the time of the theft or whether she was in an open-air restaurant or indoors.
Radio and television reporters flocked to the main square in the historic neighborhood -- known for its outdoor restaurants and tango performances -- trying in vain to find out in which restaurant the purse had disappeared.
All they came up with were a couple shopkeepers who said they were just discovering that a young woman who had been in their shop in recent days may have been the first daughter.
The U.S. Embassy in Argentina and the White House declined to comment on the reports, and Argentine police said no report had been filed with them.
Officials at Argentina's interior ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
It was not known how long Bush's daughter had been in Argentina or why she was visiting. Some reports said she had been in neighboring Paraguay earlier, in an activity related with UNICEF.