A petty criminal in Banteay Meanchey province demonstrated he didn’t give a frock about who he victimises, after stealing a monk’s phone on Sunday.

The thief reportedly sidled up to the devotee to cadge a smoke, before asking to use the phone to call his family.

But the robed man’s trust turned into a cloud of dust when the thief then scarpered off on a motorbike taxi. By the time the monk tracked him down, the phone had been pawned for $20, which the thief claimed was used to pay for his first meal in days.

Police intervened and put the man on a bus to his home in Battambang. Koh Santepheap