A Vietnam court has sentenced two young men to three years in jail each for snatching a cell phone from a Thai tourist in Ho Chi Minh City in a case in which police had to fire five shots to arrest them in April this year.

>> Two men held for snatching laptop, cell phones from foreigner>> Vietnam police nab cabby for snatching phone from Finnish tourist>> Vietnam police detain 2 for snatching handbag from Spanish woman>> HCMC police shoot, arrest robbers for snatching smartphone from Thai woman   Ngo Van Thanh, 23, and Tran Hoai Thuong, 22, both from the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang, received their sentences at their hearing opened by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on Tuesday.

They were charged with “property robbery by snatching” pursuant to Article 136 of the Penal Code, the court said.

The victim in the case was Aungkana Apinyarat, a 39-year-old Thai woman.

According to the indictment, while patrolling the city’s District 1 at noon on April 7, a 4-member police team on two motorbikes spotted Thuong and Thanh traveling on a scooter in a suspicious manner.

The team followed the suspicious young men. When they reached the intersection of Phan Chu Trinh and Le Thanh Ton Streets, the men drove up to Apinyarat, who was standing on the roadside talking on her phone, and grabbed the phone from her hands.

The thieves sped up to escape while the team pursued them through the streets. One of the police officers fired three shots into the air as a warning for them to stop, but the robbers continued to flee.

When they entered Tran Hung Dao Street, the youth riding pillion kicked one of the police motorbikes.

One officer then fired two shots at the engine of the robbers’ bike. One of the shots hit the passenger’s thigh, but still they drove on.

When they arrived at the intersection of Yersin and Tran Hung Dao Streets, another police officer drove his bike into the thieves’ scooter, causing them to fall to the ground, and arrested them.

The police team recovered the Oppo R1 smartphone from the robbers and returned it to the woman.

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