This is the bizarre moment when car thieves smash through the entrance of a closed shopping centre, drive around it to rob a store, then smash their way back out again through a different set of doors.

The incident took place at Vaughan Mills mall in Vaughan, Canada, early on 1st February.

York Regional Police said in a statement: “Early this morning [1st February] a 2011 Black Audi A4 with Quebec licence plate X10 SNP smashed through Vaughan Mills.

“Two suspects committed a break-and-enter and fled.”

Local media said the car seen in the footage had been stolen from Laval woman Taylor-Anna Kobinger.

After Kobinger listed her car online to try to sell it, a man had responded to her advert and visited her home to take it out for a couple of test drives.

But on his second go, she said, he began to drive dangerously, so she asked to change places with him.

But when she got out of the passenger seat, he stepped on the gas and sped away.

The next she heard about her stolen car was when York Regional Police contacted her to report that it had been involved in a robbery more than 550 kilometres (342 miles) away.

Police said that after driving through the shopping centre, the suspects broke into an electronics store and stole a number of devices.

Police are now searching for the pair.

Sergeant Clint Whitney told local media: “We are just fortunate that nobody was hurt and it is property damage