A motorcycle thief, who left a stolen SH scooter behind and rushed to a mountain in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to hide from police on Thursday, was finally arrested on Friday, officers said.

Nguyen Van Nghia was caught when he was begging for food and drinking water at an eatery on National Highway 1 in Phu Loc District, according to local police.

Prior to his arrest, the 20-year-old, hailing from the north-central province of Nghe An, had been hiding on Mu Nhan Mountain, after stealing a SH scooter from a local man on Thursday afternoon.

Nghia finally appeared after hiding for more than a day, Le Binh, said Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Viet Hoang, chief of the district police.

Nghia had used a home-made gun, which police later identified as only using plastic bullets, to shoot people chasing after him when running away with the SH stolen from Le Binh, who parked the scooter on the sidewalk to enter a market.

The thief managed to run away for 20km before reaching Mu Nhan Mountain. No one was harmed by his shooting, according to police.

Nghia had to leave the gun, the motorcycle, and a backpack, behind to run to the mountain for hiding.

More than 100 police officers, supported by police dogs, besieged the mountain since Thursday afternoon to search for Nghia.

The backpack was later found containing a fake ID card, a tear gas canister and an electric baton.

Colonel Vo Thanh Ky, chief police officer of Huong Thuy Town, said police had faced difficulties in hunting for Nghia because of the darkness and the complicated terrain in the mountain area.

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