For HDB residents, having your belongings looted from the common corridor right at your doorstep is never a pleasant experience.
This was the case for one Singaporean family in Sengkang.
That is, until they discovered the real identity of the light-footed or light-pawed thief.
Mystery of the vanishing slippers
Speaking to Mothership, Amirah, the victim of the spate of thefts, said that the first incident occurred at the end of 2020.
One of the family member's slippers disappeared.
What confounded Amirah and her family though, was that only one side of the pair of slippers was missing. Surely a thief would have stolen both sides for their own use?
Although the family was "pissed off", they did not think much of it, and chalked it up to the estate cleaner accidentally sweeping one away.
However, their slippers vanished again for a second, and subsequently, a third time. Like the first time, only one side of the slippers was taken.
By this point, Amirah and her family were overcome with curiosity, and speculated that someone was playing a prank on them.
Amirah also noted that only the "branded" men's slippers were stolen, such as the Vans, Adidas and Puma ones.
Clearly, this thief had a taste for the finer things in life.
Culprits identity uncovered
It was only after the fourth incident did their CCTV footage manage to capture the crafty crook.
Turns out the culprit in question was of the furrier sort.
A short clip of the footage Amirah posted to Twitter shows the ginger and white cat strolling past the front of her unit, before making off with a slider in its mouth.
As it leaves, it glances back once, possibly to ponder about the plentiful loot left on Amirah's doorstep for its future heists.
Video from Amirah
Amirah said the family burst out laughing when they finally realised who, or what, the unexpected culprit was.
The cat is not a stray one, but belongs to their neighbours on the floor above.
Amirah and her family subsequently paid a visit to the neighbour in question and told her about her family's hilarious conundrum.
The neighbour was actually aware of the cat bringing home random slippers. Cats are known to bring their owner "gifts" of dead prey or other random items to express their affection.
As the neighbour did not know who the slippers belonged to, she had been leaving them near the lift lobby on the floor above Amirah's unit in the hopes that their owner would come across them.
Amirah revealed that the cat used to be her pet cat's "boyfriend", and joked that it was "seeking revenge" for a former relationship.
Amirah's tweet has since garnered over 2,800 retweets in a day, with many remarking about how adorable the cat is.
Top photo from Amirah