Police closing in on laptop thief

Time is running out for a cheeky shoplifter who became an internet star after stealing a laptop in broad daylight from a Greymouth computer store.

The thief stole the $1895 Hewlett Packard laptop from IT @ Work a month ago.

While security cameras in the shop caught the theft on film, staff were not aware of it until later in the afternoon.

Staff at the store then uploaded its security footage of the thief taking the laptop on Google.com and YouTube.com to the sound of the Pink Panther theme music.

The video attracted about 400,000 hits from around the world.

Branch manager James Graham said a mere 5 per cent of the hits were from New Zealand, with most interest coming from places such as Brazil, Amsterdam and Canada.

But now a prime suspect has been tracked to Christchurch, which police confirmed today.

- NZPA