The Egyptian tourist cried after two men grasped her handbag while she was walking on street in Ho Chi Minh City on March 11
Head of the Pham Ngu Lao Ward Police Department, Nguyen Van Phuoc, told local media on March 15 that he had just come to say sorry to tourist Alaa Mohammad Abdu Ali Aldoh.
"We've also tried to help and support her while she stays here," Phuoc said.
On March 12, photos showing a foreign woman crying went viral on Facebook, with captions saying she, who was travelling with a male tourist, fell victim to a street robbery in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to local police, the woman and a friend were reading a map while walking along Luong Huu Khanh Street in District 1 on the afternoon of March 11 when two men approached on a motorbike and grasped her handbag and sped off. She lost USD230, a wallet and some personal documents.
Following advice from local people, they reported the case to police in Pham Ngu Lao Ward right after the incident. The police then helped find them a hotel on Nguyen Trung Truc Street.
HCM City party secretary Dinh La Thang at a meeting Monday ordered representatives from the city police and tourism authorities to look for the tourists and apologise to them.
HCM City's tourist department has just proposed plans to establish a tourist protection force. The department deputy head La Quoc Khanh said he has recently received diplomatic notes from South Korea, Australia, Japan and Taiwan reporting robberies of their citizens in Vietnam, including the theft of over 200 passports.
