A robber of helpless patients thought he had gotten away with it until thwarted by a mob that seemingly materialised out of nowhere on Sunday night.

The suspect had crept into a hospital in Koh Kong’s Khemarak Pumin town and took the phones of five patients, who assumed he was hospital staff.

He escaped, but later, as word quickly spread, a vengeful crowd formed and tracked him down. Unimpressed by his offer to return the phones, the mob beat him until police arrived.

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