A man turned himself into police yesterday after a video posted on social media appeared to show him stealing goods from a tech shop.

The footage apparently showed a man take items from the shelves in Red Laser, on Bakery Lane in Pembroke, and put them down the front of his pants.

Joseph Calauro, a manager and co-owner of the company, said that the footage was released in the hope that the public could help.

He added that staff received almost 1,000 messages from members of the public after the clip was circulated.

Mr Calauro said yesterday that the theft happened on January 3 and it was thought the man arrived with another man in a taxi, which was parked at a neighbouring business, and both men went into the store.

He explained: “We were very short-staffed that specific day.

“The gentleman grabbed the items, stuffed them in his pants, had a little conversation with staff then they left.”

Mr Calauro said that eight sets of Apple ear pods — worth a total of $2,000 — were taken.

He added: “We had spoken to the police, given a statement, given the evidence videotape.”

Mr Calauro said it was decided that the employee-owned business would release the footage early yesterday.

He explained: “The very first phone call we received was from the suspect himself.

“At that point all he thought was that we had still images of him, he didn’t realise we actually had video and he was claiming that it wasn’t him.”

Mr Calauro said: “We’ve probably received close to 1,000 phone calls, e-mails, messages and WhatsApps.

“We decided the first thing we would do, if we were fortunate enough to have someone call and turn him in, we would make a donation to a charity on that person’s behalf.

“The first person that called and gave us a name and address ... we asked if we could make a donation to the charity of their choice — that’s the SPCA.”

Mr Calauro said that police told the company yesterday that the individual had “turned himself in”.

He thanked people who provided information and added that the police went “above and beyond”.

A police spokesman said yesterday no further details were available and that an update would be provided as soon as possible.