BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - A COLUMBIAN thief surprised by a home owner's return hid inside a closet and fell fast asleep until he was discovered and arrested on Sunday, police in the port city of Barranquilla said.

The 24-year-old delinquent bored his way through a wall to get inside the house in the pre-dawn hours on Sunday, and Police Chief Oscar Gamboa surmised the physical effort and the late hour likely contributed to the thief's exhaustion.

'It looks like he was overwhelmed by sleep,' Mr Gamboa said, adding that when the owner of the house in the morning discovered the robbery and checked around the house to see what was missing, he found the burglar sleeping with his booty in a closet.

Mr Gamboa said the owner, while waiting for police to show up, had to protect the thief from a neighbourhood lynching party.