A thief had to awkwardly hand back the stolen phone to the shop's counter in Dewsbury, UK, after the shopkeeper's quick thinking foiled the daylight robbery attempt.
CCTV captured the moment the thief's plan to steal 1,600 pounds' worth of mobile phones backfired spectacularly, according to Metro News.
At 4 p.m. on December 4, the man attempted to steal from the Phone Market shop in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. He had to return the phones and beg the shopkeeper to let him leave after he had simply locked the front door.
The video, which is now available on several social media platforms, shows the thief pretending to be a customer and wearing a hoodie at first. The shopkeeper behind the counter showed him a few phones and handed one to him to check personally, and the thief immediately ran back towards the glass door, but the shopkeeper jammed the door with a remote, preventing the thief from leaving. He returned to the owner awkwardly after this criminal act and handed it over to him.
Watch the video here:
Afzal Adam, 52, the shop owner, said he installed the door locking mechanism in 2020 for 250 pounds, according to Metro News.
He said, "With people wearing masks and balaclavas, I was worried about not being able to identify anyone if they did steal from my store."
"He would have gotten away with 1,600 pounds worth of merchandise, so the mechanism has paid for itself!"
"I had the owner of another local store come in and ask what mechanism we had because they were looking for the same thing."
