Nocturnal thieves waltzing off with expensive branded footwear is not a new phenomenon in Bangalores upscale residential areas. But one enterprising young shoe-snatcher took his art to new heights. He struck at the home of a prominent theatre owner no less than four times in the past year, making off with high-end Nike, Reebok and Woodlands sneakers worth around Rs 2 lakh.

The long-suffering victim finally decided to go electronic he had surveillance cameras worth Rs 70,000 installed in the compound of his BTM Layout house. And they did the trick, capturing the miscreant on film. The cops have recovered around 200 pairs of shoes worth Rs 5 lakh from the 20-year-old suspect. With this one arrest, the rash of shoe thefts has ended in the entire neighbourhood.

J Shrinivas, owner of Balaji Theatre in BTM Layout I Stage, lives near Forum Mall. He woke up to the loss of five pairs of branded shoes in November last year. But he glossed over the incident by purchasing new ones. In January this year, the mysterious thief struck again, making off with Rs 50,000 worth of shoes. Shrinivas thought of shifting the shoe rack inside the house but his vaastu predilections prevented him from adopting this common-sense measure.

He decided enough was enough when his brothers house,security camera blog, in the same compound,security camera blog, took a hit. He realized surveillance cameras were the only way to catch the nocturnal visitor red-handed and had three cameras installed two months ago.

The penny dropped on the night of August 6 when the thief revisited his favourite hunting grounds and stole seven pairs of shoes. The surveillance footage showed the thief looking left and right for any movements, leaping over the compound wall, cleverly bolting the main door from outside to prevent anyone coming out, and then doing his thing.

The Mico Layout police identified the person in the footage as a habitual offender. According to them, he was involved in chain-snatching cases earlier and had been arrested twice before. After news of the arrest spread, other residents of the area also came forward with shoeless complaints.