Customer 'puts piece of plastic' in her curry to avoid £170 bill

The suspected “con artist” was captured on CCTV apparently tearing the wrapper off a cigarette packet she'd stored in her underwear and placing it in her bowl of chicken curry.

Bucks restaurant Owner Naseem Khan, 44, said the family of five who had dined at her curry house Namji on Monday afternoon (October 10) had “woofed down” their pricey dinner.

READ MORE: BANNED: Man involved in 3am crash while being FOUR TIMES drink drive limit

But when the bill arrived, they made threats and stormed out while complaining about the “plastic” in their food - even after being offered a 20 per cent discount.

Thames Valley Police later confirmed they were investigating an allegation of theft.

Disgusted Naseem, dubbed the "Queen of Curry" due to her work with homeless people, said she would have given the family free meals if they couldn’t afford them.

And she added it was particularly disturbing that the woman had chosen to carry out the trick seemingly in front of her tiny baby and two kids, aged between ten and 14.

She said: “She obviously did a lot of planning beforehand.

"You could say, 'This is somebody who is not happy with the food,' but they woofed down the food and nothing was left at the end – they ate everything.

“Doing this in front of kids is not acceptable in this society.

“If she was struggling with money, she could have come to me and I would have given her food for free. But she didn’t do that.”

Naseem, who owns two restaurants in Milton Keynes, Bucks., said the family of five had come to her premises in the Xscape shopping mall at around 3.30 pm last Monday.

Their bill shows they ordered four starters, seven side dishes, four drinks and six main courses - including two Tandoor Lamb chops - costing a total of £170.45.

But Nassem said they began to grumble about their experience as soon as they tucked into their first course, before later attempting to pull off an audacious con.

She said: “This particular couple started to complain about the starters first, but they ate all of them. And when the main food came out, they ate all of it again.

“Later, the woman called the waiter and said there was plastic in her food.

“The waiter said, 'We don’t have this plastic in our kitchen, but I have the authority to give you 20 per cent off and not charge you for the dish.'”

“The husband of the woman then stood up and said, “I’m not going to pay”, and the waiter said, “Fine, do what you have to do” and walked away.

She added: “The waiters have been given clear instructions not to confront anybody, as we have had a problem with people being very aggressive and abusive."

Naseem said she had realised that the couple had pulled off an elaborate trick after she looked at footage of the incident on her security cameras.

She said: "We went on the CCTV to examine how things could have gone better. That’s when we discovered that she removed the plastic from her bra.

“It was from a cigarette packet. She broke a piece off and put the rest back in her bra, then put it in the curry and called the waiter.”

Naseem generously gave away 250 free meals per week during the pandemic to homeless people throughout Milton Keynes, while taking part in fundraising projects.

At the time she said: “As a Muslim, it is my responsibility to help others and give [to] charity.”

But she was incensed by this alleged con, which may have been used at other local restaurants, adding that she'd informed the police about the incident.

She said: “When I sent the footage to a local group of restaurants, many of the owners said they’d seen something similar.

"It’s something we would never expect or wish to see.”

A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said they were investigating the incident.

They said: "At around 8.30am today (11/10), we received a report of a theft at Namji restaurant in Xscape in Marlborough Gate, Milton Keynes.

“Officers are investigating and anyone with information should call 101 or make a report on our website."