The man had come from behind her as she sat on a stone chair, and grabbed the handbag from her arm. He fled towards Choa Chu Kang Central.

The handbag, valued at $100, contained about $100 in cash, a brown wallet worth about $60 and some personal documents.

The suspect was dark-complexioned and is believed to be in his 20s is about 1.7m tall. He had short, spiky hair and was wearing a green and white striped t-shirt and dark coloured pants.

In another theft, a teenager had her handphone snatched at the void deck of Block 93 Henderson Road on Tuesday evening.

At about 10.30pm, the thief approached the victim and her friend claiming that he wanted help with a Chinese word in a newspaper he was carrying.

He then tried to snatch the handphone from the teenager who was using it, and a scuffle ensued.

The handphone, valued at $200, fell to the ground and the man picked it up and fled.

Anyone with information can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000.