Crim goes to greath lengths to evade non-existent security

A Russian jewellery thief's hilarious efforts to evade non-existent security measures only succeeded in amusing police after the bandit scurried away virtually empty-handed.

The robber was filmed crawling to the Moscow store's front door, covering himself in a reflective cover and using a long rod to grope around the store during a break-in last Thursday, LifeNews reports.

Once he prises the door open CCTV footage shows the balaclava-wearing bandit retreat out of shot before returning with a large envelope-sized piece of reflective film.

The cautious crim then wraps himself up in the material in a bid to evade laser sensors, which the store does not employ.

From the imagined safety of his invisibility cloak the thief uses a fishing rod to try and lift items of jewellery from display stands without leaving fingerprints.

But he soon tires of the tactic and climbs over the counter grabbing as many items as he can before making a swift getaway, losing his cloak in the process and abandoning his rod.

In his haste to escape the robber dropped more of his loot but did manage to make off with a gold chain worth around $1100.