A former criminal is being hailed as a good Samaritan in Xiamen, Fujian province, Haixi Morning News reported on Sunday.

Yang Yunkui, 41, a migrant worker in Xiamen from Henan province, was convicted of theft and served a 15-year sentence.

After Yang came out of the prison in 2007, he decided to turn his life around and worked as a guard in a residential community in Xiamen.

In the past six years, he caught three thieves, stopped several attempted thefts and helped police catch a robber.

Yang's diligent work was praised by residents and he was named the city's model for a good Samaritan for 2012 by the local government.