Saigon police nab two women picking pockets of foreign tourists

By Quoc Thang August 18, 2018 | 11:10 pm PT

Lam Cam Loan (L) and Nguyen Thi Gioi are held at a police station for pickpocketing from a group of foreign tourists. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang

Police have detained two women caught pickpocketing a group of foreign tourists in downtown Saigon.

During a patrol on Friday night, police officers spotted and followed the women who were loitering suspiciously in front of the Saigon General Hospital near Ben Thanh Market in District 1.

They pounced on the women after they stole an iPhone from a Belgian tourist.

Police said the women pretended to collide with the group of foreign tourists walking towards the Ben Thanh Market and one of the two quickly picked up the phone from the Belgian woman's handbag.

The phone has been returned to the owner, police said.

The two suspects, Nguyen Thi Gioi, 57, and Lam Cam Loan, 45, have carried out numerous petty thefts targeting foreign tourists, and are on the the police’s blacklist, officers said.

A police official returns the phone to Belgian tourist. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang.

A police official returns the stolen phone to a Belgian tourist. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest metropolis, welcomed four million foreigners in the first half of 2018. Yet the city’s rising popularity is often undermined by tourist traps, street crimes, traffic chaos and pollution.