Beijing - A Chinese purse snatcher leapt off the roof of a seven-storey shopping mall during a police chase only to be arrested several minutes later, the China Daily said on Friday.

The incident occurred at a busy shopping mall in the north Chinese city of Tianjin. The thief snatched a woman's purse and tried to disappear in a crowd of shoppers, but police and security guards blocked all the exits.

In a desperate attempt to escape, the robber ran to the mall's roof and jumped. His fall was broken by electrical cables and so he survived, but suffered multiple fractures and was taken to hospital under police escort.