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(Image: CEN)

Li Cheng was arrested and told cops that his new student girlfriend was planning to come back to visit him for an upcoming festival.

She was hoping he would buy HER some sexy underwear for the meeting.

But without any cash, he had decided to target neighbours' washing lines at his home in the city of Foshan, in south China's Guangdong Province.

He was caught when one of his victims, Li Shen, complained to police that one of his wife's bras had been stolen when it had been left out to dry on the balcony.

Authorities checked security cameras from Li's building and discovered that an unknown man had climbed the stairs and rummaged through the couple's laundry on the rooftop.

Video footage shows the suspect stealing Li's wife's bra and leaving.

(Image: CEN)

Police identified the culprit, Li Cheng, and caught him red-handed just as he was about to steal more underwear.

At the suspect's home, police also discovered a number of other stolen lingerie items all packed up and ready to be given as presents to his new love.

He told police in custody: "I received a text message from my girlfriend telling me to buy her new lingerie as a gift [before she came for the upcoming Autumn Festival]. But I didn't have any money, so I decided to take someone else's."

The upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival is on September 27, one of a number of major holidays on the Chinese Lunar Calendar.