Police officers cast shadows while patrolling outside the U.S. Naval Academy during the Israeli-Palestinian peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, November 27, 2007.[Agencies]

BERLIN - A 41-year-old man in Germany due to face questioning over theft got himself in even more trouble by squeezing in another robbery on the way to the police station, police said.

"It was a case of 'just nipping out to do a bit of thieving before being interrogated for shoplifting'," police in the western region of Lippe said Tuesday.

Officers were following up a supermarket robbery in the town of Blomberg with detailed descriptions of two thieves and their getaway car when they had to return to the police station.

To their amazement, they said they discovered a man at the reception waiting to be interrogated for shoplifting who looked suspiciously like one of the pair wanted for the morning raid.

Outside, they said they found his accomplice sitting with the stolen goods in a car with the matching number plate.

Now the man faces a second set of charges, police said.