Thief snatches Malaysian woman’s bag at fuel station

SELANGOR: A woman took to social media to warn others after her bag was snatched by a thief while she was putting petrol in her car at a fuel station in Puchong Jaya.

Cabi, who goes by @cabibibi on Instagram, posted a video on March 1 (Sunday) showing what happened.

In it, she can be seen standing at a pump with a large brown purse slung over her shoulder. When a man on a motorcycle passes by her the first time, she is facing the pump, and her purse is away from the motorcyclist.

However, the second time he passes by, she is already facing her car, which means the shoulder with her purse is now on the opposite side. The motorcyclist, seeing the opportunity, drives by her again, and this time snatches her purse, causing her to fall while still holding the nozzle of the fuel pump to her car.

She quickly gets up, returns the nozzle, quickly looks around to see what can be done, and then goes off camera.

Ms Cabi wrote in the caption that she was “sharing this as a reminder to always be aware of your surroundings, don’t be so blur like me.” She added that this took place before the Lunar New Year and that she lost a number of important things in her bag, including her phone, wallet, house keys, and even her car keys, just because she had taken her whole bag out.

“Thank goodness there was a car behind me, so I went to her for help. I immediately went to make a police report after. Hope none of you ever experience this, please be safe,” she added.

Unfortunately, some commenters on her post have been less than kind, even blaming her for the incident.

“Still have women like this? Can’t put (the bag) under the chair and lock the car?” asked one, while another wrote, “Why does someone pump petrol with their purse on?”

Some commenters were far more sympathetic, with one explaining that women face the sometimes hard choice of carrying their bags with them or leaving them in the car and risking the possibility of the vehicle being broken into and their purse stolen anyway.

In a post the following day, Ms Cabi wrote, “I appreciate people who gave proper advice, but there are so many comments that are just plain rude and calling me names. Let’s not normalise victim blaming and hope for a safer community instead.” /TISG

Read also: Malaysian man sentenced to four months in prison for helping a house thief escape for reward money