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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
John Bett

Man baffled after finding 'hidden spy camera' inside a box of cat food

A man has been left baffled after buying a box of cat food and finding a 'hidden spy camera' inside the box - and he has no idea who put it there, or why.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that he was buying food for his pet cats, Lilliput and Goliath, and he absent-mindedly picked up a box of Purina Gourmet cat food.

When he got home he put it in the cupboard and days later his girlfriend took it out and noticed there was a hole cut in the side of the box, and when they opened it they claim they found a camera, and transmitter, hidden inside.

The man said he had no idea who put the camera there or why, and so far he's been unable to recover any footage from the device.

The camera was crudely hidden in the box of cat food (Daily Mirror)
Inside the box was a transmitter, which would broadcast the footage (Daily Mirror)

What do you think of the cat lover's discovery? Let us know in the comments...

The man said that the camera's lens was crudely hidden in the packaging and that the box had been opened but then subtly shut to make it look like it was sealed.

He picked up the box at his local Welcome store, a franchise of the Co-op, who say they are 'concerned' about the camera.

The man said: "The weirdest thing is I didn't notice when I bought it. I went to the Co-op in Crystal Palace and just grabbed it off the shelf for the cats.

"Yesterday evening my girlfriend was getting it out of the cupboard and she was like, 'what is this?'

"At first we couldn't figure out what it was, then we realised there was clearly a camera coming out the cat's head.

"It's kinda thrown us really.

"I went back and looked at where that shelf was, where the cat food would have been, and most of that rack faces a bunch of bottled water but it kinda faces into a stock room area."

The man said that his investigation left him with more questions than answers, as the way he could see it there were three different scenarios that could be the truth.

First, the camera was placed in the Purina factory, secondly, it was used by the Co-op to keep an eye on their staff, or a member of the public could have planted it for their own nefarious reasons.

He continued: "In the box, there was a camera, and a kind of box which is the mechanism of the camera, then a transmitter. So I think you'd have to be close, they have to be attached to a wifi network.

"Also there wasn't a battery in it. I plugged it into a USB and I don't think it holds a charge, and there wasn't a battery in it.

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"I think it broadcasts to something, it doesn't store data, but it didn't seem to have any power. Maybe it can hold a charge, I could be wrong. I don't know, it's very strange.

"I guess anything could be the truth, whatever the answer is it's odd - if it's in the cat food factory, why would they have let it be sold? If it was done by the Co-op, why was it left on the shelf, if it was a member of the public, why would they do it?

"We were kinda scared of it, I'm keeping it because I think it's cool, it's in the cupboard facing the wall at the minute.

"If you were going to put a spy camera in something why would you put it in cat food, because that's something that you just put in the cupboard so it won't see anything.

"And why didn't they hide the camera in the cat's eye? It's quite an artless delivery, whoever's done this."

A spokesperson for Welcome Central Hill said: "We are extremely concerned by this and grateful that it has been brought to our attention.

"The cat food is located opposite the door to our office so it could be a serious security issue.

"We would invite the customer to talk to us directly so we can investigate this further and, if necessary, speak to the police."

A spokesperson for Purina said: "I can confirm that we know of no reason why a camera would be found inside a box of our cat food."

Do you have a story to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Get in touch via yourmirror@mirror.co.uk

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