Wellington, March 12 NZPA - A shop's security camera caught a thief in action -- the shopkeeper stealing a customer's wallet.

Best and Less co-owner Fenglan Liu, of Waitara, pleaded guilty in New Plymouth District Court yesterday to stealing the wallet and the $150 inside it.

Police going through the footage taken by the store's cameras found Liu taking the item and hiding it under a pile of clothes, the Taranaki Daily News reported.

When police confronted her, she confessed, saying she was getting her costs back after not being paid for a pair of trousers taken by a relative of the wallet's owner.

She was fined $500 and $130 court costs.

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