Motorbike thieves rob foreign woman

A Moroccan woman was robbed by two motorbike thieves Tuesday night near the Hujialou area in Chaoyang district.

The two suspects allegedly snatched her handbag containing her passport and other documents around 7 pm while she was walking along the Third Ring Road. The woman, who asked to be referred to as Nadia, was not injured.

Nadia teaches tailoring at the ESMOD International Fashion Institutes Beijing Branch, in Tuanjiehu, to the north of Hujialou.

"I was on my way home from work. I noticed a motorcycle trying to approach me, but when I tried to see what was happening, they suddenly snatched my bag and drove away so quickly," she told the Global Times yesterday.

She claimed that from the way the pair operated, it seemed as if it might be not the first time they had robbed people in this way.

In addition to her documents, she also lost some money and a mobile phone.

"I planned to fly to France to spend my holiday next week, but now I have to cancel it. It's not the worst anyway. The most terrible thing is that I may be an illegal resident in China," she said.

She reported the loss of her passport and visa to the Moroccan embassy and the Chinese authorities Wednesday.

An officer from the Beijing Exit-Entry Administration in Dongcheng district said that foreigners have 30 days from reporting the loss of a passport to apply for a new visa, or they could risk becoming an illegal resident in China.

"She can't leave China for other countries before we grant her a new visa," the officer noted.

According to news website qianlong.com, Beijing police reminded residents to be cautious while passing the crossings and side roads along the Third and Fourth Ring Roads after a spate of similar robberies near the area last October.

A woman, surnamed Wang, was robbed by two men riding a motorcycle on October 17 last year as she was walking in the Baiziwan area in Chaoyang district.

Her Louis Vuitton handbag, containing 2,000 yuan ($317) in cash was snatched by the two suspects. While police launched an investigation, there were no subsequent reports of the two men being apprehended, or of Wang's goods being recovered.