Vu Dinh Tuan, 38, was cruising District 1 on a motorbike, looking for prey, when he spotted a Chinese woman walking at the intersection of Nguyen Trai and Nguyen Thi Nghia streets, a three-minute ride from the popular Ben Thanh Market.
He sped up and grabbed the phone from her hand. Police officers who suspected and had followed him for some time immediately gave chase.
Seeing the incident, a passerby kicked the phone snatcher down, enabling the police to arrest him.
The phone has been returned to the owner, police said.
Vu Dinh Tuan is being held at a police station in Saigon for phone snatching. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang |
Saigon has received four million foreigners so far this year, but its popularity is often dented by street crimes, especially those targeting tourists.
Last June, police caught two young Vietnamese men snatching a cell phone of a Filipino tourist in the city center. Earlier, a Canadian woman lost her bag to two Vietnamese men in Saigon's backpacker district.