Man nabbed for grabbing iPhone 6 from foreigner in HCMC

March 16, 2015 | 09:38

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Police in Vietnam’s southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City on Friday said they have detained a 31-year-old man for snatching a cell phone from a South Korean national on a street.

Dang Minh Loc, a resident of the city’s District 3, was arrested on Thursday after grabbing an iPhone 6 from Hyeon Ju, a woman of South Korean nationality, police in District 1 said on Friday.

Loc will be charged with “property robbery by snatching” pursuant to Article 136 of the Penal Code, police said.

According to the case file, at about 1 pm on March 12, Loc was traveling on a motorbike around District 1 to hunt for “prey”.

When he reached Dinh Tien Hoang Street in Da Kao Ward, he saw Hyeon Ju walking on the street talking on her phone, an iPhone 6.

Loc then stopped his bike on the roadside, got off it, hurried toward the woman and snatched the phone from her hand.

He then returned to his bike and sped away, while the victim shouted loudly for help.

Some passers-by who witnessed the robbery chased Loc on their bikes and stopped him.

They then handed over Loc, along with the iPhone 6, to the ward police.

After being questioned by police, Loc pleaded guilty to stealing the phone from the woman.

On November 4 last year, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced two young men to three years in jail each for snatching a cell phone from a 39-year-old Thai woman, Aungkana Apinyarat, in the city.

The convicted were Ngo Van Thanh, 23, and Tran Hoai Thuong, 22, both from the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang, who were arrested in April 2014 in a dramatic chase during which police had to fire five shots to stop them.