The world has definitely seen a spike in the number of cross-dressing thieves in 2015.

In February, it was the cross-dresser who threatened to blow up a McDonald’s if he was not given the contents of the restaurant’s tills.

While in Victoria, Australia, a man dressed in drag made off with hundreds of pounds during the armed robbery of a service station in April.

Now, Detroit is the latest city to be terrorised by a transvestite after a shop was robbed by an armed man sporting a handbag, purple dress and "full-grown beard and moustache".

In the video released by Detroit Police yesterday, the 6ft tall man is seen entering the Walgreens drug store in the city’s westside.

After browsing for a couple of minutes, the man pulls out a gun on the shop’s cashier and instructs him to put the money from the till into his handbag.

A fellow shopper then walks past unaware that a robbery is taking place, as the cashier continues to place the money into the thief’s bag. The man, who was also using a walking stick, then calmly walks out of the store with his loot.

Police are now on the hunt for the thief and have described him as a 6ft black male about , with a full beard and moustache.