A bungling burglar dressed as Ghostface from the Scream horror franchise was arrested when he was trapped in a gold shop in Thailand.

Etsara Sukham, 21, disguised himself in a black robe and the infamous slasher mask before slipping inside the Yaowarat Gold Shop past store hours at a mall in Chiang Mai province on March 18.

He pried open the shutter doors using a crowbar and pulled them shut behind him to avoid detection. However, after filling his bag with gold loot, he found himself unable to escape the jewellery shop.

CCTV footage shows the masked robber restlessly pacing around the shop as he searched for an exit.

The failed heist was discovered by shocked employees after they found Etsara cowering in the storage area the following morning.

They called the police, and cops arrived to detain the young man, who was frogmarched out of the mall still wearing his costume.

The shop manager said: 'I noticed something was wrong because the door looked like it had been forced open. I entered the store and walked behind the counter, but I was surprised to see the man hiding in the other room while wearing a ghost costume.

'I was shocked but quickly regained my composure. I locked him inside the shop until the police could arrive to arrest him.'

Police Colonel Yanapol Phattanachai, superintendent of the Mae Ping district office, said: 'The suspect rode a motorcycle and parked it at a petrol station across the mall. He entered the mall at around 5 pm, and hid inside until closing time. He entered a restroom and emerged wearing his costume before using a crowbar to break into the gold shop

'He couldn't escape because the iron door was right next to the counter, and there was no space for him to lift it. He tried to find a way out behind the shop, but it was a dead end so he hid himself in the back room until he was arrested.'

Etsara, a self-confessed horror movie fan, said he was driven to commit robbery to pay for his college tuition fee. He reportedly surveyed the shop for three days, and selected it because it was near his home.

He said: 'I feel ashamed and remorseful. I am sorry that I have embarrassed my parents with this rash act.'

Etsara was hauled to the police station to be charged with 'theft at night by destroying a barrier'.

Authorities said they were investigating if other suspects were involved.