THIS is the moment two thieves stole a parcel from a resident’s front porch while apparently leafleting for paving work.

The pair were captured on CCTV from a front door in the Preston Park area of Brighton.

They spotted the Amazon package, which the resident had bought for their son’s birthday, and opened the front door to snatch it.

On the footage one can be heard telling the other “Amazon” to alert him about the unattended gift inside the property.

The resident said they felt “disgusted” by what they had seen and concerned the duo may have used the leafleting work to target others expecting mail deliveries in the run up to Christmas.

He said: “I had told Amazon it was OK to leave the parcel in the front porch and it was only the next day after getting the message it had been delivered that I realised it was not there.

“I checked the CCTV and neighbours told me they had seen two guys walking across front gardens.

“In the middle of the day people were happy to just take the things they could see. I think it’s disgusting. I was in the house at the time. I have no reason to believe that the paving company were aware or involved in the theft. Perhaps the men were taking on the leafleting and using it as a cover.”

The resident, who asked not to be named, said information, including the apparent first names of both men, was given to him by the paving company.

But he said the first police response to receiving the information was to tell him that he would need to know the suspects’ full name and address.

He said: “You would think the police would be aware of people making Amazon purchases which are then going missing, it’s coming up to Christmas. We have their first names and pretty much an address, so they should not be hard to find.

“The police told me they couldn’t do much apart from put it on their database. So I thought that maybe Argus readers may be able to help recognise the men.”

One is a tall and skinny white man with cropped dark hair.

He wore a black Nike tracksuit with a hooded top and bottoms, and black trainers and a high-vis gilet.

The other appears to be of East Asian ethnicity and wore a grey tracksuit, with a grey backpack and high-vis gilet.

A police spokesman said the incident was under investigation and enquiries were ongoing to identify the two suspects pictured.

Anyone who recognises them is asked to report it online or call 101, quoting serial reference 47200191907.