WATCH: Channel 4 Dispatches shows supermarket theft gang arrested in Northampton after stealing 300 tubes of toothpaste
A gang of supermarket thieves arrested in Northampton will appear on a new Channel 4 Dispatches documentary.
The programme, which airs tonight (Monday November 25), aims to lift the lid on Britain’s shoplifting epidemic and organised crime gangs involved in thefts, via an undercover investigation by reporter Matt Shea, who used information from private security teams and police.
The documentary focuses on tracing the origins of one Romanian crime ring, ‘the UK’s first mobile shoplifting gang’, responsible for stealing £120,000 worth of products from Morrisons stores across the UK, including one particular shoplifting ring in Northampton – arrested during the programme. The footage of the arrest also shows one of the perpetrators revealing who they are working for.
Speaking in the documentary, Lead Police Investigator, Duncan Etchells, said: “There was a hub of operations around that area of Northampton, which were known to local forces in the Midlands with the possibility of being linked to organised crime.”
It is believed that there could be a Romanian organised crime group operating in Northampton that is bringing people into the country to shoplift.
Duncan also revealed the findings of a raid on a warehouse in Northampton discovering 89 boxes of Strepsils, 331 tubes of Sensodyne toothpaste, 108 tubs of Sudocrem and 147 boxes of Lemsip Max cold and flu tablets.
The two offenders arrested in Northampton, in the above clip, have been sentenced. One admitted to 14 high value thefts and was jailed for 27 months. The other admitted to seven thefts and one count of going equipped, and was jailed for 18 months.
Britain’s Shoplifting Gangs Exposed: Dispatches airs on Channel 4 at 8pm tonight.