The HCMC Department of Tourism on March 16 offered a public apology to Egyptian tourist Alaa Mohammad Abdu Ali Aldoh who lost her handbag in a drive-by robbery in District 1 a week ago.

Egyptian tourist Alaa Mohammad Abdu Ali Aldoh at a meeting with reporters in HCMC on March 16

Aldoh said that after her return to HCMC from the resort city of Dalat on March 16, city authorities came to see her at a hotel on Pham Ngu Lao Street to offer an apology.

“I feel much better now,” she said, adding she had received much help and care from local people and authorities.

Aldoh suggested the city install surveillance cameras in crowded places to detect street robberies. Besides, each police station in the city, especially in the areas which are frequented by foreign tourists, should have at least one officer able to communicate in English. 

HCMC-based travel firm Ben Thanh Tourist has offered to sponsor the trans-Vietnam tour which Aldoh and her friend plan to make. 

Aldoh’s handbag was snatched by two men on a passing motorcycle while she was walking along Luong Huu Khanh Street in District 1 on March 11. She was then taken to a nearby police station to report the case.

SGT