A man has been held by police after stealing a car carrying 480 taels of gold in northern Vietnam.

Colonel Vuong Tien Dung, chief of police in Ha Dong District, Hanoi, said that the suspect, whose name is temporarily withheld, was caught after five months of hiding as he committed the crime on January 7.

According to a police probe, Vu Duc Phi, 56, a gold shop owner in Ha Dong, told his staff to carry a container with gold inside into a car at the front of the shop.

After going outside for 15 minutes, Phi found the vehicle as well as the gold tank inside had disappeared and reported the theft to local police, the probe said.

The incident was recorded by a surveillance camera installed inside the venue.

The footage appears to show that a man opening the automobile’s door and escaping with the vehicle as well as the gold inside, worth VND15 billion (US$672,150).

Phi said that he also lost VND1 billion ($44,810) in cash left inside the car.

On the same afternoon, locals discovered the car abandoned in Phu Luong Ward, but said the gold and money were not in the car, according to the police probe.

(1 tael = 37.5 grams)

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