Tesco locks up meat as crime spree puts too much at stake

IT IS a tactic normally employed to stop shoplifters stealing high value items.

Now one city supermarket has had to start keeping meat out of reach of shoppers following a spate of thefts. A sign has gone up on the meat counter at Tesco Express in Tollcross advising customers that "due to the increase in theft of fresh meat from this display" customers must call a member of staff to fetch it from the back. The store is understood to have suffered a series of meat raids in the last week, with shoplifters running in and grabbing armfuls of steaks before making off.

Neighbouring traders say the raids are indicative of the increasingly desperate tactics employed by shoplifters in the area, which have seen staff abused, spat on and even threatened with a syringe.

Adnan Ulhaq, 27, manager of Ali's Cave on Lothian Road, told how he chased a shoplifter down the street to recover £65 worth of painkillers, only to be confronted with a needle.

He said: "I had to let him go after that. That guy was in his early 20s, but we've had mums pushing prams and pensioners trying to steal from the store. The mums will usually put something in the pram, and when challenged they'll say they just 'forgot' to pay for it.

"There was also a guy in his 70s trying to get away with about a fiver's worth of stuff, but when we searched him we found a pair of £110 sunglasses from Black & Lizars across the road."

Mr Ulhaq said the problem had been markedly worse since Woolworths closed in January, with incidents of shoplifting in his store up by around a fifth.

He added: "Many of the items that were stolen lately could be regarded as essentials, such as razor blades. However, we also lose a lot of pharmaceuticals such as asprin, which they can probably sell."

Neighbouring chemists have also been targeted, with police investigating thefts from Boots and staff at Superdrug complaining of being spat on.

Painkillers are also a target at Bargain Spot, on Earl Gray Street. Manager Abdul Rauf, 45, said police caught a woman who stole £30 worth of Nurofen from CCTV evidence. He said: "The cameras make it easier to see shoplifters but they still have a go."

A Tesco spokesman confirmed that the backroom meatlocker was unique to the Tollcross store, and that it had no plans to take meat off the shelves anywhere else.

A police spokesman said: "Compared to last year, there has been an increase in reported shoplifting in Edinburgh."