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THE CORNER SHOPLIFTERS
Cops smash gang ‘stealing £100,000s of stock from big supermarkets to order to be sold on in corner shops’
The Sun accompanied Met Police cops as they smashed a gang in dawn raids
HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds in stock is being stolen from big supermarkets “to order” to be sold on in corner shops.
Thieves are sent to grab booze and household goods from the likes of Waitrose and Co-op and then pass on the loot to the independent stores.
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The Sun accompanied Met Police cops as they smashed a gang in dawn raids — recovering £150,000 of alleged stolen goods and arresting a suspected kingpin, 48, and his wife, 43, at their plush home in Cheam, South London.
Nine stores and a barber’s were also targeted by officers.
Eleven other people were arrested, mostly shopkeepers.
One man, 64, was nicked on suspicion of having a Taser and another, 39, a machete.
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The raids we went on were in South West London, but similar organised crime has been reported in other UK cities.
We filmed as 10 cops stormed into NR Food and Wine in Mitcham and searched its owner, before seizing masses of stock including discounted wines and baby formula for examination.
Sri-Lankan interpreters joined the raid, which saw one shopkeeper ordered to remain still as his items were placed into clear evidence bags by a gloved officer.
Large packets of Ferrero Rocher, which retail for £10.50, were on offer for just £7, and many other items were on sale for below market price.
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Corner shops have been able to display items like this and shaving razors for low prices because of the methods they obtained the stock, cops said.
Next, at nearby Capital Food and Wine, investigators revealed a huge haul of goods marked two weeks ago with a covert substance known as SelectaDNA.
London Greggs store ‘robbed every hour’ as ‘shameful’ shoplifting crime spree exposed
Inspector Ollie French-Greenslade showed us the process of identifying stolen goods, holding a pack of Fairy scent booster up for the camera under his torch.
Cops had used invisible blue markers to tag goods — such as chocolates and cleaning products — in stores before they were stolen.
A horizontal blue marking, shown up under the light, was the giveaway the item was stolen.
A haul of marked items was found during the raids.
Insp French-Greenslade said: "We put a small strike mark which allows us to anaylse the pattern and work out who it is attributed to and where it was taken from.
"We have gone round and marked these items. Each is unique to who it is registered against. It also allows us to return goods to the correct and lawful owners.
"It is particularly useful for these offences. We are seeing thefts from larger supermarket chains where we marked items, for example razors and spirits."
He added that just because an item seized did not have one of 5,000 markings - it was not the end for a potential conviction for the shopkeepers selling the items - with other methods available at their disposal.
Cops told how the people involved with the criminal network are are usually bands of drug addicts who are known to the police, alongside "professional" thieves of Romanian origin.
Some items seized were own-brand goods and had labels brazenly peeled off, meaning some punters will have no idea about the stolen items they are consuming.
For example Co-Op white wine bottles were being flogged at a number of the corner shops.
Among the items that were marked and most likely to have been resold were Cadbury's Dairy Milk bars, Guylian seashell chocolates, Gaviscon Double Action tablets, Sensodyne toothpaste and Smirnoff vodka.
Also tracked were Gordons gin, Fair liquid pods, Vanish stain remover and Aptamil baby formula.
PC Luke Taylor, whose idea it was to launch the shop blitz, said: “This is not just old-fashioned shoplifting. It’s a lot more organised.
"Today's operation is basically trying to dismantle a part of that organised criminality which is occurring in Merton and other areas where all this is happening today.
"We're trying to do something different, today is a chance that we can actually make history. We've done research on it, we can't see anyone else who's tried to do this.
"As I said there's a stigma, which is that we do not care about shoplifting, it's important to challenge this view of the world, whilst also accepting the fact that criticism is valid."
Scores of shoplifters were among hundreds arrested for theft in the Merton area between December and March this year.
SelectaDNA has been trialled by the Met since January.
Packs can be snapped-up by security-conscious Brits for £60 - and one kit can mark up to 50 items of property including TVs, phones and laptops.
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The Kent based firm also flogs sprays that can coat a burglary upon entrance to a home or commercial property.
It comes after The Sun revealed a shoplifting scourge faced by Greggs takeaways across the nation, with light-fingered punters pilfering trays of rolls and cakes.
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