A Polish criminal pretended to be a dummy in a clothing store’s window in order to steal jewellery from a Warsaw shopping mall, as per police after he was arrested this week.

The 22-year-old entered the store and “put on a new outfit, then stood still in the window like a mannequin in order to fool security guards and surveillance cameras,” police said.

When the shop closed he slipped out and swiped jewellery from a stand in the shopping centre.

“We’ve never seen anything like it,” police told AFP. But the thief was not as clever as he thought.

Officers later nabbed him and now he faces up to 10 years in prison.

On another occasion, according to investigators, he ate in a restaurant before sliding beneath the roller shutters at the entrance to a business to exchange his clothes. After that, he came back for more food.

Security guards soon caught sight of him and contacted the police, though.

The man is also accused of robbing another retail centre, where police claim he tried to steal other things after it closed and grabbed money from the cash registers.