A Serbian thief stole a car and parked it in the safety of his own garage - but got caught after calling a mechanic who turned out to be the brother of the car's owner, Belgrade daily Press reported Saturday.

The thief had called the mechanic to fix a new ignition lock to another stolen vehicle, a scooter. He chose the mechanic at random from the telephone directory and invited him to the garage, where the stolen car was still parked.

The mechanic recognized his brother's car immediately, but calmly finished his work, charged the thief and phoned the police as soon as he left.

The man, was described as "one of the world's unluckiest thieves" was given a 48-hour detention.