WATCH: Thief's attempt to smash window with brick goes wrong

A pair of bungling thieves were forced to abandon their robbery after an attempt to smash a window went horribly wrong.

CCTV footage from a store in Shanghai, China, shows two hooded men approach the shopfront at around 12:50am on Wednesday before one launches a brick through the window.

The second man then launches another brick but as his accomplice attempts to get out of the way, he is struck in the head and drops to the floor.

His stunned partner rushes over to help him but it quickly becomes evident the man has been knocked out as his body flops in his arms like a rag doll.

Abandoning the burglary, he then drags his friend out of shot.

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The condition of the injured thief is unknown as police are yet to identify the men involved.

However the video was uploaded to Chinese social media site Weibo by Shanghai Police poking fun at the two thieves, the Shanghaiist reported.

"If all thieves were like this, police wouldn’t have to work overtime," the video was captioned.