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.
A police officer conducts a staff search during one of the dawn raids[/caption]
Cops used invisible blue markers to tag goods in stores before they were stolen[/caption]
An officer carrying out a stock check for stolen goods[/caption]
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.
The raids we went on were in South West London, but similar organised crime has been reported in other UK cities.
Cops used invisible blue markers to tag goods — such as chocolates and cleaning products — in stores before they were stolen.
A haul of marked items was found in one of the raids.
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.”