Weird World: Staff Recover Jewelry Stolen by a Rat

(IDEX Online) - Staff at a jewelry store in India were baffled when a dozen gold rings and chains went missing, with no sign of a forced entry.

Then they checked the surveillance TV and were astonished to see the culprit was a rat.

Workers later recovered the missing items from a burrow beneath the shop in Tumakuru, a city in the southern state of Karnataka.

The incident came to light during a routine stock check, when employees discovered that 10 diamond-studded gold rings and two chains, with a combined value of INR 10 lakh (USD 10,500) were missing.

Staff initially suspected the culprit was someone familiar with the store.

But a review of overnight surveillance footage revealed it was rat - seemingly attracted by the paper price tags - that was dragging the jewelry away, piece by piece.

The rodent was seen carrying the items through a small opening and into a hidden space beneath the shop floor.

Employees followed its route and found a burrow inside a narrow gap in the store's furniture, from which they recovered all the missing jewelry.

Video grab shows the rat stealing items of jewelry.