Two disorganized criminals have been arrested, thanks to the Stirling criminal work carried out by the Macbook they stole.

Coppers swooped on the pair, and recovered $US5500 ($5800) worth of stolen computers and electronic devices. Apparently, the owner of one of the laptops connected remotely to her Apple MacBook and snapped pictures of the thief.

Kait Duplaga, 19, returned to her New York state home on April 27th to find the unit she shared with two other flat mates had been ransacked. Among the missing items were two laptops, two flat-screen televisions and two iPods. She signed on to another Mac and activated "Back to My Mac," a feature that is available to people who subscribe to the .Mac service, which in Australia costs $140 a year.

When the thief sat in front of the machine Duplaga used the remote control function to capture a photo. The thief turned out to be Ian Frias, a friend of victims. Frias and his friend, Edmon Shahikian, had attended a party at the unit a few weeks earlier.