Police in Thanh Xuan District said Monday they had detained Nguyen Dinh Phuc, 41, and are preparing to propose charges of "molestation of a person under 16."

Phuc is a worker living in the area and married and has children.

On questioning, he reportedly admitted that on April 4 he had been drinking beer and while riding home he passed by an alley on Khuong Trung Street, where he spotted two girls, one the victim and the other much younger, walking along.

He had an urge to touch them to satisfy his sexual craving and so tricked them into entering an alley.

After walking some 15 meters into the alley, Phuc found it empty and so proceeded to push the older girl against the wall and touch her. But when the girl screamed he fled the scene.

His action was recorded on a security camera and the footage was later uploaded on social networks, causing him to hide his motorbike to avoid detection.

The girls' family complained to the police and a few days later he was arrested.

Under the Penal Code, Phuc's likely indictment for molestation of a person under 16 is punishable by six months to three years in prison.

Official data on sexual harassment is not regularly published in Vietnam. But a 2014 survey of 2,000 women by the NGO ActionAid found 87 percent had experienced sexual harassment in public places.