It’s China. According to local press, the man turned to stealing because he was struggling to raise his 12-year-old child alone.

This is not the first time we come over corss the chopsticks thieves in China. During 2011, two dark-coated men were also caught on camera patrolling a backstreet before sneaking behind shoppers armed with the traditional Chinese utensil. The trend is thought to be spreading through Chinese cities.

[UPDATE] An incredible pickpocket in central China’s Henan province has been caught on camera stealing a phone using a pair of chopsticks. He was lifting the phone from a woman’s pocket as she cycled along a busy road. Photographs show him running after the unsuspecting cyclist. The thief was later seen examining his gains before selling the phone, which is a Xiaomi Phone 1s, in a nearby second hand shop for 60 yuan (US$9.6). A passer-by caught him in the act and photographed the whole incident and posted the pictures on Chinese social media. Pressured by the circulating news reports after the picture was widely circulated, the thief turned himself into police. You can watch the gif animation on the stealing act after the jump.