Suspected thieves ignore police script

A Dunedin police operation lost some of its sting on Sunday morning when the two suspects slept in.

The 9am sting at Bar 10 in the Octagon was called off when police realised the pair were not turning up, Senior Sergeant Steve Aitken said.

Later, the couple were arrested at their home. The 25-year-old man, a former Bar 10 cleaner, and his 19-year-old female accomplice allegedly stole $1100 from the bar's pool table over the four previous Sundays.

"The staff upstairs just let them in because they thought they were the cleaners ... the staff downstairs each thought someone else had emptied the table," Mr Aitken said.

The pair, who will appear in the Dunedin District Court on Thursday on four charges of burglary each, had known the location of the key to the pool tables' coin box, he said.