Truong Tan Tai, a.k.a. Tai “Spider”, has been arrested for stealing diamond, gold and jewelry worth around VND1 billion (US$47,800) in total, a senior police officer said Saturday.

At about 3am on April 12, Tai broke into a house in alley No. 39 on Pham Van Chi street in district 6 when all four family members were sleeping.

After that, he stole jewelry wrapped inside a towel on a dressing table and fled through a balcony on the first floor.

At 6am the same day, H., the house owner, woke up and found her jewelry and a VND500 million ($24,000) savings book gone.

Tai also stole some valuables from the bag of the housemaid.

While investigating, police suspected a woman after she asked local people for the address of H. -- the theft victim -- to return some lost papers to her. Thanks to a tip from a good seller in the area, police identified the woman as Nguyen Ngoc Theu hailing from ward 4, district 6. 

After that, investigators secretly followed those who contacted Theu, including Tai “Spider”. Tai confessed to the crimes after police found one diamond ring and a silver bracelet in his wallet.

Tai had previously stolen a laptop from a local house. When the house owner caught him in the act, he jumped down to the ground from the second floor, hence the nickname Tai “Spider”.

Police in district 6 said Tai “Spider” had committed more than 20 theft cases before his arrest.