MOSCOW, September 22 (RIA Novosti) - An 18-year-old in Russia's Far East stole a toy gun Monday from one shop and used the fake weapon to rob another store, a local police spokesman said.

The teenager, from the town of Fevralsk, went to a local store and asked the assistant to show him a plastic replica of an AK-74 assault rifle. Then he seized the toy and ran away.

Shortly afterwards he entered another shop, produced the toy gun and threatened the shop assistant, taking approximately 3,000 rubles ($120). He was detained half an hour later, but police found only 800 rubles ($31) in his possession.

Similar incidents have been reported both in Russia and abroad. In 2007, a 27-year-old school teacher from Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg held up a computer shop, taking 2,600 rubles ($103).

In May this year, a court in Khabarovsk Territory in the Far East sentenced a man to seven years in prison after he used a fake pistol to take 40 rubles ($1.60) from an elderly woman.

Police in Ottawa, Canada are currently investigating an "armed robbery with a toy gun," allegedly committed by a 9-year-old boy.

In 2002, lawmakers in Mexico introduced a ban on sales of replica weapons, saying police recorded at least two crimes involving toy guns in a week. Often, robbers were suspected of replacing genuine guns with toys before they were detained, hoping to receive a less severe punishment.