The owner of a university canteen in southern China has stolen students' takeaway meals hoping it would boost his business.

CCTV footage filmed in the city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province on October 19 shows a man looking around before taking the bags of takeaway food left at the school gate onto his scooter and driving away.

Police arrested the man the following week.

According to reports, 38-year-old Zhang was the owner of the university's canteen and said he "threw the takeaway food I stole into the bins or gave to my employees to eat.

"Our canteen's business was not very good and was affected a lot by takeaway meals."

Zhang reportedly has stolen the students' takeaway meals more than ten times. He's been detained by the police and the case is under further investigation.

近期，福建泉州某高校警务中心经常接到有学生报警称，他们放在学校外卖点的外卖食品经常被人偷盗。

接警后，丰泽公安分局后渚海防派出所立即开启小案快侦机制，于10月26日下午在辖区某高校一食堂内，将小偷张某抓获。

据了解，张某今年38岁，他在高校食堂承包一家餐饮店，正常营业的话一个月也有一万多元的盈利。可为何要偷学生的外卖呢？
“偷来的外卖有的是扔到垃圾桶去，有的拿给员工吃。”张某懊悔地说，“我们食堂的生意都不是很好，受很大影响。就想着把外卖拿去扔掉，这样学生也不会去点外面的外卖。”

据张某交待，因为高校食堂生意不是很好，学生叫外卖对食堂的打击也很大，所以他产生了偷学生外卖，促使他们多去食堂用餐的念头，妄想通过这种方式达到改善自己食堂生意、提升收入的目的。据统计，他拿走学生外卖有10次以上。

“根据刑法相关规定，虽然说他盗窃的物品金额不大，但是他两年内有3次以上盗窃，已经构成了刑事案件。”后渚海防派出所驻校民警翁振南说。

目前，犯罪嫌疑人张某因涉嫌盗窃已被警方刑事拘留，案件还在进一步侦办中。（视频由福建台提供）