Bizarre footage has emerged from China of an alleged thief walking into the security room in a mall and asking for a drink of water, during the apparently robbery.

The CCTV clip was captured in a shopping centre in Jinan, Shandong Province last week and shows the man sneaking about, allegedly stealing money from some of the stores.

He later goes to the security room and asks for water, but the guards had been keeping an eye on him and promptly handed him over to police.

Bizarre footage has emerged from China of a thirsty thief asking water from the security in mall being caught.

In the CCTV video, captured in Jinan, Shandong Province last Friday, a man walks into a shopping mall of which the door is not locked and stealing money from some stores.

After that, he feels thirsty and goes to the security room to ask for water.

Before he walked into the security room by himself, the security has already noticed him and was about to catch him.

The man has been arrested.