Inside city where shoplifters attack with used needles and steal £1MILLION a year of goods
STUFFING a second child's toy down her parka jacket, the brazen thief races to the door and down the high street chased by two seething shopkeepers.
She's just one of countless cocky crooks plaguing businesses in Truro, Cornwall, where shoplifters have pilfered millions of pounds worth of goods this year alone.
The tired traders have been forced to take matters into their own hands, risking their own lives by chasing down thieves - despite some wielding mallets, used needles and broken bottles.
Businesses fear the shoplifting ‘epidemic’ in their home, the UK's southernmost city, is feeding a dangerous underworld of drug-dealing and county lines gangs.
One terrified woman who got caught red-handed told how she was ordered to steal by a county lines hardman, and many organised groups are armed with tag-cutters.
Enraged business owners claim police in the town, famed for its
breathtaking cathedral and gothic architecture, don’t offer them
enough support in tackling the issue.
Martin Gaunt runs gift shop Happy Piranha, in Prydar Street, with twin sons Sam and Josh, 33, and actively chases down culprits to try to retrieve stolen goods.
They have 12 CCTV cameras covering the shop and entrance and have installed cabinets to display many items.
Martin says: “Shoplifting is an artery feeding the worst criminals you’re likely to ever encounter.
"It feeds the drug dealer and enslaves the addict. It feeds into organised crime, and we have had direct experience of that.
“We stopped one young lady and quite often the response can be tearful, but on this occasion, we found it to be a little bit more genuine.
“We sat her down, we gave her a cup of tea, and she started to explain that it wasn't us that she was worried about.
Read more: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3022606...
Feral shoplifters attack us with used needles & mallets… catching a thief revealed sinister underworld pulling strings
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3022606...
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