Man scans only one product when shopping for 453 euros: Now he's in jail

Tiel - A man who brazenly refused to pay for his Christmas shopping at the supermarket is now spending the festive season in prison.

The brazen customer should have had to pay for this long shopping list. Instead, he only scanned a single product.
The brazen customer should have had to pay for this long shopping list. Instead, he only scanned a single product.  © Screenshot/Instagram/@politie_tiel

The customer wanted to smuggle a full shopping cart with a value of 453 euros past the self-service checkouts of the Dutch supermarket chain "Albert Heijn" unnoticed by scanning just a single can.

But the fraud, which was doomed to fail, was discovered, as the local police amusingly announced on Instagram: "It's obvious and not clever."

On Monday, the officers published the receipt that should have been paid for. Organic cheese, grilled meat, prawns, a number of sweets, Red Bull energy drinks and other products prove that the thief wanted to have a very good time over the festive period.

But that's not going to happen: "Unfortunately, he's missing the holidays," wrote the police. The man was taken to prison.

Scan, pay and pack: Some customers try to cheat at so-called "self-checkout" checkouts (SCO). (symbolic image)
ContentImage.Description   © Oliver Berg/dpa

However, the offender did get one thing for free that day: because there was no free cell in the local prison and the officers didn't have time to drive three hours to the nearest prison in the city of Zwolle, they gave him a cab ride. There he was met by his colleagues and booked.