Cape Town's Metro Police arrested a suspected chicken thief on Thursday morning.

"At around 9am, officers on patrol in Woodlands, Mitchells Plain, noticed two men walking down the road, pushing a shopping trolley.

"The goods in the trolley had been covered with clothing, piquing the officers' interest," Sergeant Ruth Solomons said in a statement on Thursday.

When the police stopped the pair to inspect what was in the trolley, they fled. 

One managed to flee, while the other was caught.

"When officers searched the trolley, they found 30 bags of chicken [3kg each] and six bags of potato chips [5kg each]. The goods were valued at around R3 000," Solomons said.

The police later found out that the goods had been stolen from a fast-food outlet in Westgate Mall.

The 26-year-old suspect is being detained at Lentegeur police station.