This is the moment when a tender-hearted gunman hands back a mobile phone he had just snatched from a pizzeria cashier.

A security CCTV camera caught the baffling hold-up at the pizza joint in Camacari, Bahia state, north-eastern Brazil, on Tuesday night (2nd August).

Footage shows how the helmeted crook enters the premises and forces the till attendant to hand over her phone while pointing a handgun in her face.

But as soon as she gives him the device, the woman can be seen pleading with the thief for its return.

She can be heard saying: “It’s an iPhone, man, what do you want it for? Please, my mobile phone, man. I’m paying for it, please.”

Moments later, the robber apparently has a change of heart and hands back the phone, with the woman thanking him.

He then has the cheek to ask her if there is another mobile phone in the store, to which she replies no.

The masked man then fled the scene on his accomplice’s motorbike with cash from the till, reported local media.

The case was not registered at the police station, but officers began hunting for the suspects after hearing about the theft.

At the time of reporting, however, neither the gunman nor his biker accomplice had been found.