Moment quick-thinking shop keeper turns the tables on machete welding thugs by trapping them inside his store mid-robbery

This is the moment a shopkeeper turned the tables on a machete-welding criminal by locking him in his store during an attempted robbery.

Officers are hunting two men after the incident earlier this month in Birmingham’s Smethwick area, which saw three people enter a supermarket with a large knife.

CCTV footage of the attempted robbery shows one of the criminals demanding money from the cash register while threatening to stab the shopkeeper with a knife.

Meanwhile, their accomplice can be seen helping himself to items on the shelves of the Taas Express store.

The shopkeeper runs from behind the counter, grabs two bottles of wine and slams them on the floor to confuse the robbers.

He then manages to run out of the store and close the door behind him, trapping two suspects, one of whom is still holding the machete.

The criminal uses the machete to chip away at the glass in a desperate attempt to escape

The unarmed person claims to be an innocent party being threatened by the criminal holding the machete and begging the staff member to release them

The robber tries to break the glass with his machete in an attempt to get out, but is unsuccessful

The store employee pulls the door handle, together with a passerby who helps prevent the robbers from opening the door. The machete-welding robber is then seen using the weapon to chisel away at the glass in a desperate attempt to escape.

The unarmed individual claimed to be an innocent party who was threatened by the criminal holding the machete and begging the staff member to release them.

The two people outside continue to hold the door closed by pulling on the door handle.

The suspects eventually managed to leave the store and flee by climbing through a bathroom window at the rear of the building, prompting a search by West Midlands Police.

Rajasingam Tharshiya, the store’s owner, said one of the suspects escaped before the door was closed.

‘These two boys came in with knives and started demanding money from my staff. “He had the presence of mind to run out the door from behind the counter, but one of them just got in front of him and ran away,” he said The Telegraph.

The robber threatens the shopkeeper with his machete before the quick-thinking employee locks him inside

Officers are still searching for the suspects who eventually escaped out a bathroom window

“The other man trapped inside started banging on the glass and I think the third man was with them as they both escaped out the bathroom window together.”

He added: ‘It is very frightening that this could happen and our employee was very shaken but fortunately unhurt.’

A police spokesperson said: ‘We were called just before 7pm on April 18 to reports of a disturbance at a shop on Bearwood Road, Smethwick. A store employee was threatened with a knife and the perpetrators tried to take items from the store.

‘The store employee, together with the public, tried to lock the perpetrators in the store to prevent them from fleeing the scene. The front door of the store was destroyed.

‘A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of theft and has since been released on bail pending further investigation.’