Search for man who stole two live koi carp from aquatic centre by putting them in his pockets

CCTV footage has been released showing the moment a thief reached into a tank and stole two koi carp from an aquatic supply store before stashing them in his pockets as he left the shop. Thomas Dodd and partner Dani Grogan found that the koi carp, worth up to £60, had been taken from a large tank in Swansea fish shop Aquatic Supplies Wales earlier this week. CCTV also captures a second, smaller fish being taken from a tank and put into the man’s pocket. After a busy weekend, the couple spotted that the netting, laid over the top of the tanks to stop the fish jumping out, had been damaged, and a handheld net had been left inside.



But it wasn't until after Dani checked the shop's CCTV footage that they found what had happened. In a video clip the alleged thief is seen plucking a fish out of a vat located in a cool, quiet area at the back of the shop, suitable for keeping the sensitive pond fish. The slippery creature, six to seven inches in length, wriggles out of his hands and drops to the floor, before the man grabs it and stuffs it into his pocket. “We didn't really know what to make of it, because we'd noticed the fish was missing and we'd kind of thought one of the weekend boys had sold it or something - but Tom had thought someone had stolen it," Dani said.





“We were joking saying, 'Would they have put it in their pocket?' and then we looked at the footage it actually turned out he did put it in his pocket. It was really sickening to watch," she added. “We were thinking maybe he'd have a bucket of water out in his car - but he didn't intend on stealing the fish to keep, he just put it in his pocket to kill it. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever, it's just a horrible thing to have seen." According to Dani, the full CCTV video shows the man first taking a smaller koi carp, up to 4 inches long, out of the tank through the protective net, with his bare hands, before trying to capture a bigger specimen.


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“Koi will come up to the surface and feed out of your hand," Dani said. “So I think he took one of the smaller ones and put it in his pocket then turned around to the other bigger koi and broke the protective net and stuck a big hand held net in." After failing to retrieve a large fish at first, the man walked away, only to return again and once more try to net a carp. After three to four minutes of trying, he succesfully netted the fish before slowly leaving the premises. The name of the alleged thief has since been put forward and South Wales Police have been informed of the incident.