A trio of thieves pulled off the ultimate shark heist at a San Antonio, TX aquarium on Saturday by dressing the animal as a baby and wheeling it out in a stroller, according to a video of the incident.
The surveillance video shows two men and one woman lifting “Miss Helen,” a 16-inch female horn shark, out of a pool and into a back room before wrapping her in a blanket and placing her in a bucket.
The suspects then placed the bucket in the stroller, wheeled it out of the aquarium, and drove away in a truck.
Although the heist appeared to be spur-of-the-moment, San Antonio Aquarium officials say the theft was planned out.
“The suspects staked out the pool for more than an hour,” San Antonio Aquarium officials said in a statement, according to WPTV.
Police eventually caught on to the suspects’ plan when several tipsters identified the getaway vehicle.
Authorities arrested a 38-year-old man in connection with the incident, adding that the other two suspects would be “charged at large,” KSAT reported.
Officials believe the suspect was a collector who wanted to keep the shark as a pet.
Leon Valley, TX Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio said he thought the incident was a prank at first because of “Shark Week.”
“When we first got the call, we thought it was kind of a hoax being that it was Shark Week last week, but it turns out someone actually went inside the aquarium there in Leon Valley and stole a horn shark,” Salvaggio said.
The female shark returned to her home at the aquarium at 9 p.m. Monday in good health, officials said.
Follow Katherine Rodriguez on Twitter @krod315
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