Police in southern Bac Lieu Province have arrested a woman who had been hunted by police for appropriating assets worth over US$60,000 from a Chinese national in 2012.

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After nearly a year in hiding, Nguyen Thi Kim Duoc, 35, a native of southern Can Tho Province, was seized on Tuesday afternoon in Tan Huong Industrial Park in Chau Thanh District, southern Tien Giang Province.

Police in Can Tho later handed the woman over to their counterparts in Bac Lieu.

According to the case file, in late 2012, Duoc offered Hung Chin, a 53-year-old Chinese national, a drink containing sleeping pills.

Chin had been raising shrimp in a land area he leased in Vinh Loi District and had hired Duoc to work on his farm.

After the man was asleep under the influence of the pills, Duoc stole from him US$40,000 and VND10 million ($480) in cash, a white gold ring with diamonds worth about $20,000, an IBM laptop valued at $1,000, two pairs of glasses worth $1,100 in total, a French DuPong lighter valued at $1,000, two mobile phones, and some other items. Local police put her on a wanted list in April 2013. Upon her arrest, Duoc confessed to police that she had often changed residences to avoid detection. Duoc is charged with plundering property pursuant to Article 133 of the Penal Code, police said.