400,000 witnesses to laptop theft [+ video]

Laptop thief makes his move.

He struck in broad daylight, stealing a laptop from a Greymouth technology store and making his getaway.

But thanks to the web and the Pink Panther theme tune, the tall, thin thief has become an international star.

More than 400,000 people worldwide have watched security footage of the theft from IT@Work, uploaded to video.google.com and youtube.com.

At one stage the video clip, set to the Pink Panther theme tune, was the second-most downloaded video on the site. At that time 5 per cent of the hits were from New Zealand, the rest from Europe, Canada and South America.

Figures this week show New Zealanders are taking more interest, but the thief seems to have got clean away.

A Greymouth police spokeswoman, admitting no arrest had been made, said: "We don't think he was a local."

IT @Work manager James Graham said the 2-minute video clip showed the man walking up and down outside the Mackay St store.

"He came in and said he was waiting for his kids. We were at the back of the shop when he grabbed the laptop and stuffed it down his pants. He wrapped his coat around it and left."

It was some time before the staff realised the shop's security camera had captured the theft.

The stolen Hewlett Packard laptop is worth about $1900.

Some compensation may be in the wind. Mr Graham said the store had been contacted by a Canadian security company interested in buying the footage as a sales tool.