A MAN has been arrested for threatening shop staff with a knife after being caught stealing make-up from a pharmacy.

Staff from Wanstead Pharmacy in the High Street were told to back off or get stabbed after they caught up with a man on Wellesley Road who they had been chasing for almost a mile.

The thief made a run for it after staff confronted him for peeling the security tags of cosmetics, including lip stick and nail varnish.

Muhammad Chaudry, 29, Ali Mashadi, 47, and his brother Esmael, 50, all from Wanstead Pharmacy, restrained the man until police arrived.

A bag containing around £400-worth of cosmetics was recovered nearby.

A 41-year-old man has been arrested and charged with shop lifting, affray and possession of an offensive weapon.

Read the exclusive interview with the brave trio tomorrow.