A thief surnamed Cheng is arrested by police officers. Photo: Pear Video

A thief in East China who was startled by the return of the owner of the home he was robbing, tried to make a run for it by jumping over a wall, not realizing the homeowner's neighbor was a police station. 

The thief, surnamed Cheng in Xiaoxian county, Anhui Province, was driving by a house when he noticed the door was open. Without further staking out the area, he entered the home looking for loot. When the homeowner returned, the thief ran out of the house and scaled the wall, ending up in a parking lot in the back of a police station. 

Surveillance video shows the thief casually strolling out the exit of the parking lot. A Pear Video post then shows the man being escorted back into the yard by two police officers.   

Police say Cheng has been arrested for three times in the past.

"The stupid thief jumped over the wrong wall but ended up in the right place," one netizen joked.

Pear Video