BUKIT MERTAJAM, Malaysia - A plucky 58-year-old housewife and three other women pounced on a snatch thief who had grabbed her gold chain outside her parents' home in Taman Tenang here.

Relating the Sunday incident, housewife S. Mages said she had just reached her parents' house at 1.45pm after attending the St Anne's festival.

"As I was opening the gate, I felt someone trying to grab my chain," she said, adding that the stranger was wearing a helmet.

Two of her sisters and daughter Subashini, 30, rushed out to help.

As the suspect fled, Mages gave chase and caught him by the collar. The four women then managed to overpower the suspect.

"My daughter called the police, who arrived soon after," Mages said.

The drama did not end there as minutes before a patrol car arrived, a motorcyclist rode by and threw something at the snatch thief.

It turned out to be a knife wrapped in a newspaper.

Central Seberang Prai OCPD Asst Comm Azman Abd Lah, confirmed the incident and said police were looking for the accomplice who threw the knife.