Police in Vietnam’s southern hub Ho Chi Minh City have helped an American man get back his cellphone two days after he had the item snatched by a local man in the city’s District 4.

Law enforcement officers in the district on Friday announced the arrest of Dam Thanh Phuoc, 28, for investigation on charges of snatching.

The victim was 38-year-old Goins Kenneth Roger, a man with U.S. nationality, who received his Samsung S23 Ultra mobile phone on Tuesday, two days after the snatch.

The case occurred at 3:45 am on September 22, when Roger was standing at the lobby of Saigon Royal Apartment Building on Ben Van Don Street in the district’s Ward 13, leaving his cell phone on a phone holder about one meter from him.

At that time, Phuoc rode his motorcycle on the sidewalk, approached the site and rapidly seized the phone. 

Phuoc then sped up away, leaving Roger running after him in vain. 

The foreigner later came to the police office of Ward 13 to report the case, which was later transferred to the district police for investigation.

Dam Thanh Phuoc, a 28-year-old man in District 4, Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam, is seen in police custody after being arrested on charges of snatching on September 24, 2024. Photo: District 4 Police

A hunt for the snatcher was launched in which local police deployed many professional measures to find him.

On September 24, a police team raided a hotel in Binh Chanh District and arrested Phuoc, who was hiding in a room there. 

Phuoc pleaded guilty of snatching and said he had sold the phone to a shop in District 1.

Police officers later recovered the item from the shop and returned it to the foreign man on the same day. 

Getting back the phone from local police, Roger extended his thanks to all officers who had helped recover the item, which he bought for VND33 million (US$1,340) in October 2023.

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