KUALA LUMPUR: A shoe thief driving a Mercedes Benz S200 belonging to his friend as a tactic to steal was caught in action at the Federal Territory Mosque, Jalan Duta here.
The 38-year old man's tactic was exposed when a security guard at the mosque saw him stealing a pair of shoes at the mosque on Saturday.
The Sentul police patrol unit who had rushed to the scene after receiving the report found 12 pairs of various branded shoes of different sizes inside the boot of the luxurious vehicle.
Sentul police chief ACP R. Munusamy said the suspect who works at an Information and technology (IT) company in Sunway, Petaling Jaya had borrowed the car from his housemate two hours before he was caught red-handed.
Within the two hours, the suspect allegedly stole two pairs of Nike, two pairs of Puma, three pairs of New Balance shoes and a pair of men's safety boots.
"The suspect claimed that it was his own shoes and denied to have stolen it. However, we found that he was wearing a size eight shoe and most of the stolen shoes were in sizes nine and ten," Munusamy said.
He added that the suspect's housemate had denied that all the shoes were his.
"Investigations are still ongoing and we are waiting for the police report of any individuals who have lost their shoes at the mosque," he said adding that so far only one shoe owner has come forward and confirmed that one of the pair was his.