A crook with ‘I am a thief and an idiot’ tattooed across his forehead has been seized by police after he was caught red-handed during a burglary in Brazil.

Ruan Rocha da Silva earned his bizarre inking when he was caught stealing a bicycle by tattooist Maycon Wesley and his neighbour Ronildo Moreira in June 2017.

The pair – from Sao Bernardo do Campo – filmed themselves laughing as they tattooed the confession across the then-17-year-old’s forehead and later shared the footage on social media.

Both were sentenced to more than three years in prison for torture in 2018.

Da Silva, meanwhile, was arrested for theft in Mairipora in 2018 and again in 2019 and has since spent time in prison and in rehab.

Now he has been arrested yet again for theft by Municipal Civil Guards in Cotia.

According to local media, he was seized on 27th November after he broke into a home but was caught and immobilised by the couple living there.

When arrested, officers immediately recognised him from the now-faded but still-visible inking across his forehead.

Netizens had crowdfunded the tattoo’s laser removal, but it is not clear if Da Silva, now aged 22, had finished the sessions.

After taking him to the police station, officers found there was already a pending arrest warrant against him for theft.

He first told police he had broken into the home for food but later admitted he had broken in to steal items to trade for drugs.

He told police he was sleeping rough and that he had smoked crack cocaine before burgling the property.

He was remanded in the Public Prison of Cotia, where he awaits trial.