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Across the capital, hundreds of officers have been mobilised
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This is the biggest ever operation against the scourge of shoplifting. Shockingly, those they're after today are other retailers
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small independent businesses, fuelling crime against major store chains by purchasing and reselling stolen goods
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This business in south-east London is suspected of being part of that illegal trade
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All of these goods are going somewhere, so all of the things that these prolific offenders are stealing en masse
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are not just vanishing into thin air. So that is where we started to work on our intelligence
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and improving our intelligence-gathering capabilities. And that is what led to this pattern that we're seeing very regularly
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where large multiple supermarket chains are being stolen from en masse and that those goods are appearing in very nearby smaller independent stores
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I love that one, brother. My brother, whatever me. Get down. Yeah, OK
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You're under arrest for shoplifting. So often in recent years, shoplifting has been a low priority for many forces
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But having reached epidemic levels with retailers pointing to roughly 6 million offences each year Authorities are devoting many more resources to fighting retail crime
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Here they're using the latest in DNA markings to help officers identify stolen goods
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using specially trained sniffer dogs and ultraviolet lamps. Shop theft is something of a scourge
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Obviously retailers need to do what they can to prevent it So this is a product that acts as a deterrent to deter people away from stores
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So, yeah, its popularity is increasing. Police have imposed a temporary closure of this shop while their searches continue
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Now, if they find that this business has been dealing in stolen goods
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then they'll apply to the courts for a more permanent closure of the shop
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We've got a warrant here to search this property. Police say the vast majority of the crime that blights so many high streets
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is committed by a relatively small number of prolific offenders who for the most part are addicted to drugs and alcohol
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They're now being targeted by specialist police teams, but so too are the unscrupulous shop owners
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who are exacerbating the surge in crime against their own neighbours by selling on those stolen goods
