Caught: Japan's mystery school shoe thief

Here's a tricky mystery for police to unravel: Who was pinching lots of single children's shoes from a kindergarten in Japan.

Teachers got in touch with officers when they suspected something suspicious might be a-foot!

And after police installed security cameras to see what was going on, officers had video proof to catch the thief red-handed (or clawed).

The culprit? A weasel had been sneaking in, taking trainers and pinching pumps.

It's thought the rodent may have been using the shoes to line its nest, ready for winter hibernation.

Timeline of the crime

Weasels are also very common in the UK

On 6 November, the school in the city of Koga's headteacher rang the police to report 15 shoes belonging to 10 children had gone missing from their school.

In Japan, it's common for people to take their outdoor shoes off and to swap them for indoor-only shoes, such as slippers or sliders.

These school shoes were found strewn all across their classroom floor.

The police took the matter very seriously - in fact, one officer was quoted in a Japanese newspaper saying it was the first crime of its kind that he was aware of.

The shoes were kept in cubbies like these

Three security cameras were installed as a result, and on the night of 11 November, another single shoe disappeared, so security immediately checked out all of the footage.

They spotted an orange-brown furred creature running into the classroom from behind a wall, and scurrying over to the area where the children's shoes were stored in cubbies.

In less than ten seconds, it had dashed in and escaped with a shoe between its teeth.

So what happened to the shoes? Well at the moment no-one knows but the teachers are aiming to stop any more night thefts by covering the shoe cubbies with nets and looking for holes where the sneaky weasel may have snuck in.

Weally interesting weasel facts

The things they eat like mice and voles are not that much smaller than weasels themselves

• Weasels are incredibly peckish creatures - they eat a third of their own body weight every single day

• Their scientific name is mustela nivalis

• They're related to similar animals such as minks and ferrets

• The weasel is the smallest member of the animal group Carnivora, which includes cats, dogs and bears