Ubud residents chase down German tourist for stealing T-shirt

A German national who allegedly attempted to steal a T-shirt from an Ubud clothing store on Saturday was made short work of by members of the local community, who chased him down after a perturbed shop assistant yelled out maling (thief).

The incident happened at about 11am when the alleged offender, a 20-year-old man, was browsing clothes at the Lost in Paradise store on the popular shopping street of Jl. Monkey Forest, according to detiknews.

The man allegedly slipped the T-shirt into his bag in the fitting room before then paying IDR600,000 (US$42.55) for another item at the cashier, presumably in an attempt to avert suspicion. But his plan quickly fell apart when the store assistant noticed the missing item and asked him about its whereabouts.

That’s when he bolted.

“The staff asked the perpetrator whether he knew where the other T-shirt was. But suddenly, the perpetrator ran away to escape,” Ubud police chief Nyoman Nuryana told Kumparan.

Thanks to a store assistant’s instinctive reaction to call out for help, an obliging crew of Ubud locals eagerly took up chase, and eventually managed to corner the shoplifter.

“The perpetrator threw the stolen T-shirt away as he was being chased by the community,” said Nuryana.

While the young German admitted to stealing the T-shirt, he ultimately wasn’t charged after store management opted not to take it any further, the chief told Kumparan.

“The store management decided to forgive the perpetrator and asked police to stop the case,” Nuryana said. The two parties had apparently come to an agreement and declared a “peace statement,” one we’re willing to bet involved our foolish friend coughing up a bit of “compensation” to the store’s owners.

All for a T-shirt that probably cost US$10. Sigh.