YOSHKAR-OLA, December 14 (RIA Novosti) – Lending weight to the belief that no criminal can avoid mistakes, a teenager in Russia was arrested within hours of stealing 16 liters of honey after a police dog tracked him down using the slippers he left behind.

The youth sneaked into a shared apartment in the city of Yoshkar-Ola to get his hands on the honey jars, police in the republic of Mari El in Volga Federal District said on Friday.

However, the clanking of the jars alerted one of the residents, who failed to detain the honey thief, but promptly alerted police about the missing foodstuff, a police spokeswoman said.

The investigative team arrived shortly with a police dog, which proved fortunate because the thief had left behind his slippers.

A short pursuit ended at the door of the upper floor apartment where the teenager lived. He admitted the theft and turned over the honey after police took his fingerprints, which were all over the crime scene.

Police opened a case against the unnamed 17-year-old, who already has a criminal record. No charges were specified.