A man in suburban Fengxian District has been detained for allegedly stealing a woman's purse, police said on Friday.

The woman reported to police at Jinhui Police Station on February 28 that her purse had been stolen after she laid a bag with the purse in it on a tricycle outside her building and went to fetch a mail package.

The wallet had over 5,200 yuan (US$820) in cash it, along with bank cards, police said.

The woman said she spotted a suspicious man who appeared about to ride the tricycle away, but the man left in a hurry and denied that he had stolen from her.

However the suspect, surnamed Zhang, was caught on a surveillance camera at the residential complex stuffing the purse into his pants.

The suspect was tracked down and caught a few days later, police said.