China arrests foreigner for allegedly robbing cabbies

GUANGZHOU - Police have arrested a foreigner for allegedly robbing taxi drivers at knife point in the southern Chinese city of Foshan, local officials said Friday.

Six robberies against taxi drivers were reported in Foshan from June 12-17. The suspects were allegedly two "dark-skinned foreigners," police said, citing victims' accounts.

The pair, tall and masculine compared to local Chinese, usually attacked taxi drivers at night, using knives to rob them of cash and mobile phones, police said, adding that the reported loss was around 11,000 yuan ($1,732 ).

Police did not reveal the nationality of the apprehended suspect, but local media said he was a 33-year-old Nigerian. A knife and meat cleaver were confiscated from him during the arrest.

Foshan is among the bustling towns in south China's Guangdong province, the country's manufacturing belt and a trading hub that hosts a larger proportions of foreigners, including the Africans, than most Chinese regions.

Earlier this week, the death of a Nigerian man in a police office in the provincial capital Guangzhou sparked a rally of about 100 Africans. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Thursday said the government will conduct an investigation into the death and help the Nigerian side appropriately handle the case.