Watch: Thief doesn't realise live broadcast is on after he steals phone from journalist

A journalist was filming the after-effect of an earthquake on live broadcast on the streets of Egypt’s capital city, Cairo, when a man suddenly snatched his phone from his hands.

Mahmoud Ragheb, a reporter for the news site Youm7, was doing a live broadcast when a man on a motorbike snatched his phone and ran away.

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However, the thief did not know that the phone he had just stolen was recording a live broadcast. The thief fled the scene of crime and then stopped at a local place to smoke a cigarette.

Little did he know that his smoke break was being watched by more than 20,000 people, who were getting his updates through live broadcast. Thousands of people joined in to search for the thief as the man had let the live broadcast continue.\

Officials were able to nab the criminal soon. He was taken directly to Qalyub police station where his confession was noted.

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Egypt’s Ministry of Interior said they had used modern technology to identify, track and catch the clueless thief.

The thief is reported to be ‘jobless’ and had also decided to sell the stolen mobile phone to a trader to get some money.

"The Ministry of the Interior succeeded in arresting the accused of stealing a press phone, on the seventh day," the news channel reported. "The ministry clarifies: an unemployed person residing in Qalyub.. He confessed to committing the incident and advised the location of the mobile phone.. On the seventh day, the security services thanked the security services for the speedy arrest of the accused."