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  Tough times trigger shoplifting epidemic as organised gangs steal valuable goods to order
  
  
  Britain's retailers are experiencing an epidemic of shoplifting, fuelled by the economic downturn and organised crime gangs stealing valuable merchandise to order by travelling large distances to major shopping centres.
  
  
  Theft from shops climbed to a nine-year high last year and the value of goods taken in each incident increased by nearly two thirds as retailers face a £511 million annual bill for criminality targeting their businesses, including rising online fraud and robbery.
  
  The British Retail Consortium's annual crime survey also exposes a lack of confidence in police to tackle theft from shops with more than 90 per cent of all shoplifting offences going unreported by store and prosecution rates of fraudsters considered "woeful".
  
  The sharp increase in theft by customers, which accounts for 82 per cent of all crime against stores, coincides with evidence of an increase in so-called "poverty crime" with food and alcohol being stolen in areas of high deprivation.
  
  Full story Indi.
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