Police in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City said on Monday they had arrested a male suspect behind a series of recent random attacks on nearly a dozen of local residents using sharp objects.

The suspect is Chau Kieu Binh Huy, a resident in District 6.

Huy, 30, was convicted once for theft and had been sent to a drug rehabilitation center for his narcotics addiction before, according to the police.

Huy has confessed to six attacks as officers found multiple sharp objects, apparently used in the attacks, at his residence during a search.

The attacks were first reported on Sunday by the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in District 5, where ten victims had come to seek preventive treatment after HIV exposure in less than two weeks since March 23.

All of these patients told doctors they had been stabbed by a stranger wielding sharp objects who wounded them in the arms and back.

The attacker is described by victims as male, middle-aged, riding a Honda Wave motorbike, and lurking around different areas of District 5, most commonly near the Nguyen Van Cu Bridge that connects District 5, District 4 and District 8.

All victims were given antiretroviral medicines by doctors at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases to avoid becoming infected with HIV.

Huy’s motive for the attacks is unclear.

The suspect is being assessed for any mental health problems before he can be prosecuted before the law, police said.

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