An "inquisitive" off-duty police officer caught two men allegedly breaking into the Riverside Bar on Wednesday night.
"This was about just after 11pm," Senior Sergeant Andrew McDonald said yesterday.
"An off-duty officer saw a couple of suspicious people hanging around outside the Riverside and, being the inquisitive person that he is, he turned his car around and by the time he got back he's found that the front doors were open."
The officer called the police station, and more officers arrived to find one of the two males walking out of the pub, Mr McDonald said.
He said police used a dog to track a second person, who was found down the riverbank by the BP petrol station on Taupo Quay.
Mr McDonald said the doors to the pub had been forced open, and the men were allegedly stealing alcohol.
They have both been charged with burglary and will appear in the Whanganui District Court.