The hunt for a shoplifting gang who were caught in Norfolk after a crime spree covering hundreds of miles and 47 branches of Morrisons is featured in a TV documentary.
Robert-claudiu Alexe, 24, and Elena-brindusa Efta, 35, were jailed for 27 months and 18 months respectively after being arrested in Dereham following an investigation into a group dubbed the ‘Morrisons Four’.
A Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, Britain's Shoplifting Gangs Exposed, reveals how the pair and two others were ordered to steal by gangs from Romania, who then resold the goods through a wholesaler and car boot sales.
READ MORE: Morrisons shoplifting gang jailed after arrest in Dereham
In an investigation dubbed Operation Hemsworth, Norfolk Police worked with 27 other forces across the country in areas where the thieves had targeted Morrisons.
Detectives were able to track the four to Romanian gangs who pay thieves to steal alcohol and high value toiletries, including £500 worth of toothbrushes, from supermarkets and High Street shops.
The group used foil-lined bags to walk off with at least £120,000 worth of goods from branches across England and Wales.
After their arrest in Norfolk at one house linked to the organised criminals police discovered 89 boxes of Strepsils, 108 tubs of Sudocrem, 331 tubes of Sensodyne, and many more household items.
Duncan Etchells, from Norfolk police who led the investigation, said it was “like a mini Morrisons”.
READ MORE: Shoplifting cases soar by 70pc in just one year
The documentary shows how Rachel Gillett, a crime and investigations manager at Total Security Services (TSS) Ltd, hired to probe a dramatic spate of thefts, trawled through hours of CCTV.
She started to notice a pattern of 'strange behaviour' by the same four shoplifters who would brazenly target Morrisons stores
“Someone would go round the store and monitor basically the whole area to work out what they needed to do to get away with the products, so you had [at least] one spotter, and two people taking the products,” she tells Dispatches.
Dispatches: Britain's Shoplifting Gangs Exposed is on Channel 4 at 8pm on November 25 and then on channel4.com
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