A man has been caught on camera stealing a Gibson Les Paul guitar by stuffing it down his pants.
The theft took place in a music shop in Richmond Hill outside Toronto on December 20, but surveillance video was only released a few days ago.
The footage, which you can view below, shows the man sitting on a stool and placing the neck of the guitar down one of his trouser legs before covering up the body with his sweatshirt.
He then picks up another guitar and starts strumming it before he leaves the store.
As well as releasing the surveillance video, the York Regional Police #2 District Criminal Investigations Bureau issued a statement, which said: “Investigators learned that on Tuesday, December 20, 2021, an unknown male suspect entered the store and stole a guitar by hiding it down his pants.
“He fled from the area in a vehicle being driven by a second male suspect. The guitar stolen was a Gibson Custom Shop 60th Anniversary ’59 Les Paul Standard electric guitar, valued at approximately $8,000 [Canadian] (£4,705).”
The suspect is described as a white man in his 20s or 30s wearing “extremely large, baggy pants,” as well as a black coat and a Toronto Maple Leafs baseball hat.
His accomplice was said to be wearing a black face mask, a black hoodie and sunglasses.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the York Regional Police #2 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 1-866-876-5423, ext.7241, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, or leave an anonymous tip online here.
The incident featured on Saturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update, with Colin Jost joking: “A man in Canada stole an $8,000 guitar by hiding it in his pants. Police caught the man when he got an erection, and it sounded like this.”
In other Gibson news, the guitar maker is reportedly planning to sell NFTs of some of its most famous guitar designs.