A woman's scream pierces the air from under a footbridge in the Dongman district of Shenzhen, bringing shoppers to a brief standstill.
But as soon as they see a security guard holding a man emerging from the crowd of people, they return to haggling with the sellers.
'Just another thief,' a man tells his friend in a blase tone.
The thief, a shabbily dressed man in his 30s, is equally unruffled. He contemptuously pushes away the security guard, takes a bottle of soft drink from his jacket and starts sipping. When a reporter approaches, the man stares straight into the camera unflinchingly.
'He stole my mobile phone and my wallet,' a young woman shouts at the man, who shrugs and looks bored.
Twenty minutes after the crime is reported, policemen finally arrive. The man makes no attempt to deny his crime and waits impatiently for the routine to finish.
