Vietnamese police have arrested three of the four street robbers in two different groups that have committed dozens of thefts targeting foreigners in Hanoi, local media reported.

>> An audio version of the story is available here

>> Two men held for snatching foreigner’s handbag in Hanoi Police in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem District on Thursday said that they have proposed that the local prosecutor’s office ratify the prosecution of Dao Van Binh, 25, Hoang Van Tinh, 20, Do Ngoc Tu, 32, and Nguyen Duy Ngoc, 27 on charges of property robbery by snatching, according to news website Phap Luat & Xa Hoi (Law & Society). Binh and Tinh were in a group while the two others were in another, but all of them targeted foreigners in their street robbery operations in the capital city. Tu was arrested on January 15 when he and Ngoc committed a street robbery, but Ngoc escaped. Meanwhile, Binh and Tinh were nabbed several days later.   The police are hunting for Ngoc. Binh, a Hanoi resident, and Tinh, hailing from the northern province of Yen Bai, admitted to police that they had committed 12 snatches in Hanoi, of which the most recent one occurred on January 15. At 11:45 am that day, Binh and Tinh traveled on a motorbike around streets in Hoan Kiem District to look for “prey.” When they reached Hang Bong Street, they saw a Canadian woman, Sherry Louise Parrot, 67, walking with a Panasonic Lumix camera in one of her hands.    The two men approached the woman and Tinh snatched  the camera from her. They then sped up away, much to the amazement of the victim as well as witnesses. They later sold the camera for VND2.2 million (US$103) and split the money. On the same day, Tu and Ngoc, both Hanoi residents, snatched a necklace filled with diamonds – valued at about $25,000 – from a British woman. A police team chased them and arrested Tu and recovered the asset, while Ngoc managed to escape. Earlier this month, Hanoi police also arrested two local men, Nguyen Xuan Hoa, 28, and Tran Huu Le, 27, for snatching a handbag from a South Korean woman in late December 2014, the tenth street robbery the pair had committed within the past few months. The victim is Noh Hye Yuong, a 41-year-old woman, who reported the robbery to police on December 28, saying that the handbag contained a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, as well as VND8 million ($374) and $280 in cash.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!