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A banana, a sausage, even a finger and thumb... all could be credible weapons in a hold-up.

But Rory Seager, 18, got a suspended jail term after trying to rob a bookies with – a tin of pilchards.

Seager, of Ilford, Essex, put the can in a bin bag and said it was a bomb.

(Image: Central News / Google Maps / John West)

When a cashier at his local William Hill escaped to a secure room, he hurled the tin across the shop and fled.

But he’s not the first crook with a bizarre weapon of choice...

Spud U Nick

(Image: Getty)

A would-be bandit was arrested in Providence, Rhode Island, after trying to rob not one, but two, shops armed with a potato.

Gary Deming, 34, was caught last April after pretending the veg was a gun at a dry cleaners and a convenience store, where the manager chased him off with a more effective weapon – a baseball bat.

Palm balmy

George Olivieri, 40, held up a Florida convenience store by jabbing a palm tree frond towards the assistant and demanding cash, with his T-shirt pulled over his head as a disguise.

He was foiled by a quick-thinking customer who grabbed a nearby stool and shoved him out the door with it during the 2008 incident.

The Comeback Kid

(Image: Dorling Kindersley)

It could only happen in Australia. Trying to rob a petrol station with a boomerang, that is.

A desperate 31-year-old walked into a Shell garage brandishing the children’s toy, but lost his nerve and left empty-handed.

He was arrested shortly afterwards and given a notice of public nuisance.

Presumably they feared he might come back again...

Stir crazy

Another bungling robber tried holding up a bank in Poland with a teaspoon.

The crook held the spoon to the neck of a cashier in 2009, pretending it was a knife.

He eventually fled without a single zloty – although he did cause quite a stir in the process.

Easy marker

(Image: Splash)

Crooks Matthew McNelly and Joey Miller were easy to spot when cops caught up with them in Iowa, USA, in 2009.

As a disguise while robbing a flat they’d drawn masks on their faces – with permanent marker.

Apple lie

(Image: Channel 4)

Daniel Hegwood, 33, stormed into a California bank with two McDonalds apple pies in a bag, claiming it was a bomb

Staff handed over a wedge of cash and police discovered the ruse when he was later arrested.

Trigger finger

Steven King, 30, used the old finger-and-thumb in the pocket trick to pretend he had a gun when holding up a California bank in 1997.

Unfortunately he failed to keep his hand in his pocket... which sort of gave the game away.

Invisible gunman

One hapless crook thought he could get away with the perfect robbery – after paying a “wizard” £290 to make him invisible.

But it all went wrong when he walked into the bank in Tehran, Iran, and started snatching cash out of the hands of customers.

They quickly over-powered him and he was arrested.

He told a court in 2013: “I understand now what a big trick was played on me.”

But he did stay invisible after a fashion – the court never released his name.

Robbers' haunt

(Image: Youtube)

Scaring staff to hand over cash is usually the general idea.

But one American took it literally when he tried to rob an off-licence dressed as a ghost.

CCTV shows him in a sheet complete with eye holes running through an Alabama store in October 2013.

But after all that he left empty- handed... maybe he got spooked.

Toy boy gang

(Image: Sky News)

Two Israeli boys had been watching too many crime movies when they tried to rob a Tel Aviv bank in December last year shouting: “This is a hold-up”.

Aged just 12 and 13, they had toy M-16 rifles which terrified bank staff thought were real guns.

But the pair got cold feet at the last minute and fled before they grabbed a single banknote.

Veggie scary 'un

(Image: Getty)

New York crook Walter Strong didn’t have a gun for his hold up – but he did have a courgette in his pocket to improvise as a gun.

He escaped with £1,350 – until he showed the “weapon” to a neighbour, who called police. He was arrested but managed to escape three times before finally being jailed.

Fruit shooter

(Image: Youtube)

This robber had the ultimate cheek.

He even stole his “weapon” from the shop he was trying to rob.

CCTV from September last year shows the young crook cycling up to a Philadelphia grocery store and parking his bike for a getaway.

He grabs a banana off the shelf and sticks it in his pocket. Staff were fooled that it was a gun and he escaped with cash and cigarettes.

Uncollared

(Image: Getty)

Finally, a bandit in Tuscon, Arizona decided to take man’s best friend along to a stick-up.

Cops released CCTV footage after he calmly robbed a bank while carrying his pet chihuahua.

He made off with his loot and his pet in a basket. Police never found him.