San Francisco armed robbers caught redhanded

A group of plainclothes police have busted a gang of thieves red-handed after they robbed a group of tourists in San Francisco.

The tourists were out sightseeing on Saturday when the gang burst out of a house and stole their handbags, before jumping into a getaway car.

Police happened to be sitting in a car just a few metres away and as the robbers were about to drive away a cop sprinted up and pointed his gun at the driver.

Another officer appeared at the passenger side, as an unmarked police car boxed the getaway car in.

The driver was forced out of the car and tackled from behind before being handcuffed.

The rest were arrested.

"We've had a large uptick in tourist theft recently, though mostly ‘smash and grab’ out of parked cars," wrote Some One, the YouTube user who posted the video online.

"Really glad the cops were so vigilant this afternoon."