A construction worker got a fright early on Wednesday morning when he was jolted out of a deep slumber by the sound of a sneak thief trying to deprive him of two phones.

The builder, 29, was kipping at the site where he worked in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district when, at 4:30am, the suspect, a year his senior, crept up and snatched the pair of mobiles.

On awakening the victim called over his mates, who gave the robber a bit of a kicking before calling the cops.

Koh Santepheap