Crime gangs get a taste for chocolate theft

SHOPS are increasingly securing bars of chocolate in anti-theft boxes as gangs steal them to fund organised crime.

- BY PAUL JEEVES Crime Editor

Stores are securing bars in locked boxes.

Sainsbury’s uses transparent cases to display products regularly targeted, with £2.60 bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk locked up in one London store.

The Association of Convenience Stores says chocolate is “sold on by criminals and is being targeted more frequently by prolific offenders”.

Its Crime Report says 59% of shops believe thefts involving organised groups have risen in the last year with typical offenders reselling their haul to fund a drug or alcohol addiction.