Many shoppers must have felt their eyes glaze over as they filled their trolleys, not least over a holiday weekend - but in one supermarket in Italy, paying at the checkout has proved to be a truly mesmerising experience.

Police are trying to trace a bearded man "of Indian appearance" who allegedly hypnotised a supermarket cashier near Ancona on the Adriatic coast into handing over 800 Euros without her realising what was happening.

The episode was captured on CCTV footage which appears to authenticate the story. Police said the man and his female accomplice - possibly his wife - had taken a carton of milk to the checkout at the "Familia" supermarket, and had offered a fifty Euro note by way of payment.

The camera recorded the fact that cashier's movements began to "slow down" at this point, and that she appeared to be "obeying the man's commands" automatically.

By the time she came to, the man and woman had disappeared - with "change" of 800 Euros.

The cashier told police she remembered handing over money but "nothing else". She only realised the money was gone when she realised the till takings were short, a which point the CCTV footage was checked. She said the last thing she remembered was the bearded man leaning over and saying: "Look into my eyes".

Police said the man "appeared respectable", was dressed in a suit, and probably in his forties. The role of his female companion seemed to be to distract other customers while the hypnotist went to work.

The CCTV camera caught her talking to an elderly woman in the queue who let them go ahead because they only had milk. The woman then checked the reaction of the cashier to confirm that she had noticed nothing.

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