A pair of brazen phone thieves may rethink their strategy next time after a disastrous attempt to pilfer a smartphone on Wednesday.

Police said a woman was driving her sister through the capital’s Por Sen Chey district at noon when the duo pulled alongside, grabbed the phone and sped off. Undaunted, the sisters gave chase shouting for help, which materialised in the form of a mob that cut the men off.

One of the duo somehow slipped away, leaving his cohort to take the beating alone. Police eventually extracted him from the fistic fury and sent him to hospital.

Nokorwat