It is enough to make a chocolate junkie give up the sweet stuff forever - a self-declared chocolate addict has been sentenced to five months in one of Colombia's harshest prisons for swiping $8 of chocolate bars.

Luis Augusto Mora was caught stealing two boxes of locally made Jumbo bars at a Bogota supermarket. After confessing, Mora was sentenced to La Picota prison, home to some of the country's most hardened criminals and drug-traffickers.

The tough punishment has caught the attention of president Juan Manuel Santos. In a radio interview he said that misdemeanours like Mora's should not waste prosecutors' time and effort.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have distributed a statement saying the chocolate thief is expressing regret. Mora said he would "never again touch a chocolate in my life".