A 39-year-old employee was arrested in Fukui Prefecture on Monday after being caught trying to steal copper tubing from a metalworking plant he worked at.

Manabu Hirabayashi from the city of Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, was caught by police red-handed at the plant along with 46-year-old Hajime Futakuchi, who is also from the same city and engages in recycling.

They were trying to steal pipes worth about ¥210,000 from the plant at around 8:15 p.m. on Monday.

According to the police, Hirabayashi entered the plant and handed the pipes to Futakuchi through a window.

The police were staking out the plant because the metalworking company had reported an earlier theft of cooper tubing.