Saigon police arrest bag snatcher after two-week hunt

Thach Thanh Truyen and his accomplice, on a motorbike, grabbed a handbag from Le Lam Bao Tran, who was taking photos with her family at the corner of Cao Ba Quat and Thi Sach Street in District 1, a five-minute drive from Ben Thanh Market, on February 3.

The bag had S$2,000 ($1,480), credit cards and other personal identification papers.

By chance, her relative captured the face of the man right at the moment the robbery took place.

Thach Thanh Truyen is captured on camera snatching a handbag from a Vietnamese Singaporean woman in downtown Saigon on February 3.

After committing the robbery, Truyen returned home to the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh, and was spotted by police after he moved back to Saigon.

Acting on a tipoff, police officers caught Truyen at a hotel in Binh Chanh District, where he was staying with his girlfriend.

Police are searching for Truyen’s accomplice, whose name has not been revealed.

Street crime, especially those targeting tourists, has been a rising problem in Saigon for many years now, giving the nation’s largest city an unsavory reputation despite its many other attractions.