Clever shopkeeper keeps robbers away with homemade flame thrower

It’s a trick known to almost every kid who has been to school camp, but as it turns out, a homemade flame thrower can have some real world applications.

Two men with what appeared to be firearms tried to rob a store in Queensland’s Alexandra Hills at 6:30 a.m. local time Saturday, Queensland Police told Mashable Australia. Not taking that lying down, store owner Dan Rigney took up the weapons available to him to defend his shop: fly spray and a cigarette lighter. In other words, a makeshift flame thrower.

The fiery surprise made the robbers temporarily retreat and stumble, as the security footage obtained by Nine News shows, before moving around to ransack the till and allowing Rigney a moment to escape. According to the outlet, they made off with A$680 (US$481), which doesn’t seem like much after being embarrassed by a can of pressurised insect repellant.

Kudos to Rigney for his quick thinking. As a customer told the Nine News reporter, “I wouldn’t like to cross him, that’s for sure.”

Queensland Police said no one was injured and investigations are continuing.

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