Police in central Nghe An Province have arrested a local young man for robbing a woman of an iPhone 5, which he later sold on Facebook for US$450. 

The youngster, 20-year-old Nguyen Van Nang, of Nghi Loc District, was seized on January 19, 2014 on charges of robbery, said Senior Lieutenant Colonel Ho Minh Thang, chief police of Cua Lo Town.

Nang will be detained for four months for investigation, Thang said.

According to the case file, at 7:30 pm on December 7, 2013, N.T.T., a 21-year-old woman of the district’s Nghi Hop commune, was talking with her boyfriend near the Cua Lo Town Sporting House when Nang and another young man came over to them on a motorbike.

They got off and threatened the couple with a knife and a sword. As T’s boyfriend ran away, the robbers took away an iPhone 5 from T and rapidly escaped on their motorbike.

T reported the case to police of Cua Lo Town, who launched an investigation and discovered that the iPhone was being sold on a Facebook site. It was later sold to a woman.

On January 19, 2014, police seized Nang who pleaded guilty and told police that his accomplice is Nguyen Van Nhat, also 20, of Nghi Loc District.

Nang confessed he had sold the iPhone for VND9.5 million ($450) to a woman via Facebook.

He also said he had given VND4.2 million to Nhat.

The police have recovered the iPhone and returned it to T. They are hunting for Nhat.