Police praised a taxi driver and two other men after they caught a robber who snatched a handbag from a woman and jumped into a cab to escape.
The man was trapped in the taxi when the cabbie stopped in the middle of the road in Tin Shui Wai early yesterday and locked the doors. The man broke out by smashing a window, but was caught by the other men, who were alerted by the woman's cries and gave chase in a car.
Police recovered the handbag and also seized 2.2 grams of an illegal drug, believed to be ketamine, from the suspect.
Officers said the man was linked to another robbery in which a handbag containing HK$20,000 in cash and valuables was stolen from another woman in the area last week.
Yesterday's incident happened at about 12.05am when the man pushed a 30-year-old woman to the ground in Tin Lung Road, then snatched her handbag and jumped into a New Territories taxi to escape.
The woman, with minor injuries to her left hand and back, shouted for help, alerting a passing motorist and his passenger, who followed the taxi. The woman flagged down an urban taxi to follow and called police.
