A 39-year-old man has been arrested for stealing clothes from clothes recycling bins after taking a bag containing boots fitted with a gps transmitter, news agency ANP says on Wednesday.

The clothing collection company in the Zuid-Holland town of Bernisse suspected large amounts of clothing were being stolen from the bins and one worker decided to take action. He added the transmitter to boots in a bag of clothes and waited to see what happened.

At a certain point the bag ‘started moving’ and was traced to a house in the nearby town of Zuidland. The police were alerted.

When police arrived at the property they found what they said was a ‘probably illegal’ second-hand clothing collection company, the boot with transmitter and the suspect, a Romanian national. He was arrested for theft and dealing in stolen property and remains in custody, ANP says.