Police in Ho Chi Minh City just successfully arrested a man who stole hundreds of water meters belonging to households in District 1 and District 3 over the past month, a source told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Saturday.

A joint effort by the two District 1 and District 3 police units and the municipal public security department led to the arrest of Tran Quoc Dai, a 41-year-old homeless man, who is being investigated for property theft.

Previously, a report on the stealing of 36 water meters in August by Ben Thanh Water Supply Joint Stock Company, which supplies water to a large part of the two mentioned districts, prompted an investigation into the case.

This supplied photo shows the residential water meters stolen by Tran Quoc Dai.

CCTV footage of several of the thefts shows a man on a bicycle riding up and down neighborhood streets from 11:00 pm until dawn, occasionally stopping at households, approaching water meters installed inside, and stealing them.

On Thursday, officers of the three police units managed to determine Dat as the man in the CCTV footage and summoned him to the police station, where Dat admitted to the stealing.

He recounted stealing a total of 25 water meters in District 3 in August, with many purloined from households on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Hai Ba Trung, Dien Bien Phu, and Vo Van Tan Streets only on August 4.

This supplied photo shows the bicycle Tran Quoc Dai used to tour around households in order to steal residential water meters.

His most ‘lucrative’ day came with four stolen meters while the result of a normal day was two.

After the thefts, Dai broke the water meters with a hammer to take the clockworks inside and sold them to scrap collectors for VND70,000 (US$3) each.

The District 3 police unit are calling on victims who had their water meters stolen to come to the local police station and support the investigation.

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