Such is the social cachet of having a fancy mobile phone in Cambodia that an otherwise law-abiding university student decided on Saturday to risk jail by stealing one.

The 19-year-old asked a phone seller in Sen Sok district whether he could have a look at a mobile for sale before bolting, phone in hand, when the vendor turned away.

The seller chased the youngster on a motorbike, catching him and almost beating him to a pulp before police came. Nokorwat