This is the bizarre moment a thief stole an ornamental fish by stuffing it into his trouser pocket.

The man was seen in CCTV sidling up to the aquarium filled with flowerhorn fish in West Java, Indonesia, on Tuesday, October 13.

He reached into the water, turned his back to the tank then plucked an unlucky creature from its home.

Strangely, he then stuffed the fish into the back of his pants before walking back out of the shop in Depok City.

Shocked owner, Muhammad Surya, 24, said he noticed a fish was missing then checked on CCTV footage.

He said: "I was surprised that someone stole one of the ornamental fish that people ordered.''

Muhammad said the suspect, wearing a black T-shirt, mask and hat, came and bought some small goldfish.

After making the payment, the thief pretends to look at ornamental fish. At the same time, the shopkeeper was busy serving another customer.

When the shopkeeper was off guard, the man approached the aquarium where the stolen target fish was kept.

He swiftly took the ornamental fish with his own hands, without using a fish net.

The man then hurried out of the shop and removed the fish to place in a plastic bag with others, before he fled on a motorcycle.

Surya said: "A customer had already paid for this fish and we were waiting for them to collect it. Now we have had to repay them.''

The fish that was stolen was a medium sized flowerhorn. It was worth around 20GBP.