NEWS

A GANG of women, men and youngsters targeted supermarkets in Highland Park last Monday in organised attempts of daylight robbery.

They were unsuccessful in trying to run off with trolleys full of food.

A witness who did not wish to be named says he saw four women who looked like mothers and as many as 10 men and youngsters converge on Countdown, stacking three trolleys “chock full” before they realised they were being watched by staff.

They left the trolleys in the aisles. The witness followed them to the car park. He took registration details of their three vehicles and called police, who reported one of the plates did not match the car model.

The witness continued to follow the gang to Foodtown a block away. The grocery gang filled five trolleys worth of supplies, but after being confronted by staff only managed to get two trolleys out to the car park without paying. When a Foodtown staff member pursued them further they were forced to flee, abandoning the groceries.

They left the scene in the three cars: a maroon station wagon, green Mazda and silver Nissan. Foodtown staff then rang police.

Howick police say three patrol vehicles were sent to the scene, but the offenders have not been located.

Progressive Enterprises, which owns both supermarkets, confirmed to the Times both attempts of grocery theft were unsuccessful and the gang got away with nothing.

Ian Seed, a loss prevention manager for Progressive, says all supermarkets have security measures to deter thieves. “We take theft and shoplifting very seriously.”

Supermarkets are among the hardest hit by retail theft and will soon be introducing new measures to combat it.

Retailer Association chief executive John Albertson says at a recent meeting supermarket chains revealed plans to introduce electronic source tagging for goods deemed “hot” for shoplifting. Such goods are usually small and expensive. Over the next 18 months some will be secretly tagged, so they trigger exit alarms without giving any clues to would-be thieves.

Mr Albertson says national retail theft losses amount to $650 million a year, or $1.8m a day. As supermarkets account for about 20 per cent of retail, he says they carry a large share of the losses.