A man posed as a mannequin in a shop window to steal jewelry after hours, Polish police say

• A man who was posing as a mannequin has been arrested, according to the Warsaw police.
• Police accused him of pretending to be a mannequin to remain unnoticed and swipe jewelry after hours.

A 22-year-old man in Warsaw has been arrested after posing as a mannequin to dodge security cameras at a shopping mall, police said in a Wednesday statement. The authorities did not disclose when the arrest or the incidents occurred.

The unnamed suspect waited until the mall closed to steal from a jewelry stand, according to the police. The suspect remained motionless until he believed it was safe, then proceeded to roam through different departments in the mall, per the statement.

Authorities released an image of the man standing still in front of a shop window while holding a bag.

The 22-year-old has also been accused of separate incidences of pilfering food from a bar and swiping designer clothes from the mall on a different day. He was spotted on camera sneaking under a designer clothing store's partially open shutter.

Security personnel eventually spotted the man, leading to his capture and arrest by Warsaw police.

He has been charged with theft and burglary and faces a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years.

The authorities said the man had previously committed thefts at another mall, where he waited after closing time to take money from cash registers.

This isn't the first time someone has resorted to blending in with mannequins to steal from a store.

In 2016, two thieves blended in with store mannequins and waited until after the store closed before stealing designer clothing worth 10,000 pounds, or around $12,000 at today's exchange rate, in West Sussex, England, the Sun reported.

And in 2012, Rome police arrested a trio of men who attempted to pass themselves off as mannequins in a designer clothing store after the break-in was heard and reported by a neighbor, per the Guardian.

Warsaw police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.