Dogged retriever: Police tracking wallet thief are shocked to find four-legged culprit

A MAN in Anqing city, Annhui province in China had reported to police that his wallet was missing after a card game with friends, saying that he lost his bank cards, ID and at least 2,000 yuan [£23].

Upon checking surveillance footage, local police finally discovered the identity of the thief: an innocent-looking pooch.

Video footage on August 31 shows the man at a game of cards with three friends at a grocery store at about 11am.

His wallet then fell to the ground out of his back pocket, but he failed to notice it.

Two dogs were seen walking out from the back of the store and passing the men. One of them saw the black leather wallet on the floor, picked it up with its mouth, and sneaked off with it.

The small black dog successfully carried the wallet out of the supermarket without anyone noticing, to the surprise of police officers and the man.

Police finally traced the dog back to its home nearby and were able to retrieve the stolen item, according to Anhui police department in a official Weibo post. No cash was missing from the wallet.

The hilarious video amused net users, with many saying that it was probably trained by a criminal mastermind.

“I didn’t realise dogs like money too,” one commented.

“How are the police going to punish this suspect? Is it going to get arrested?” another joked.