Organised shoplifting gangs using children as young as five, police say

Organised crime gangs are using children as young as five in shoplifting raids, police have revealed.

The youngsters are deployed by their parents who know security guards will not touch them as they grab armfuls of designer goods, acting police sergeant Jo Van Wyk said.

Ms Van Wyk spoke to the Daily Mirror as we accompanied her during the week-long Operation Terminos in Wembley, North West London, focusing on theft, anti-social behaviour, along with e-bike and retail crime.

Showing us the mugshots of wanted shoplifters, the officer said they are often stealing to order for local minimarts and takeaways. Ms Van Wyk said: “We know a lot of the rice is stolen and they sell it to the restaurants.”

Organised gangs, sometimes using children, are also involved, with £10,000 worth of sunglasses swiped in a recent raid. The officer said: “Children as young as five are involved because security can’t do anything.”

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More than 32 suspects were arrested, 64 illegal e-bikes and scooters seized and five knives recovered during last week’s co-ordinated work by 40 Metropolitan Police officers.

We watched as they seized vehicles, many modified to reach speeds of 30mph, nearly twice the legal limit.

Within moments of the operation starting, specialist pursuit officers had arrested a suspect on a moped posing as a delivery rider.

He was caught with ten canisters of what appeared to be cannabis and was held on suspicion of possession of a Class B drug with intent to supply.

Sergeant Nick Wemborn, of the Met’s Interceptor unit, said it was common to see drug dealers posing as delivery drivers to give them cover.

He said: “He offered up one tube of cannabis and said it was for his own use as a distraction technique in the hope we would give him a caution.”

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In nearby Wembley High Road a man on a fast food delivery bike was forced to deliver a pizza on foot after his moped was seized. He said: “It belonged to my employer so I didn’t know it was not legal.”

Specialist traffic officer PC Matt Looker said much of his time is spent dealing with illegal e-bikes and scooters, with some now reaching up to 70mph

He said: “The problem we keep on seeing is vehicles that go at 30 or 40mph, far above the 15.5mph legal limit. At these speeds they can cause serious injury and unlike a motorbike you can’t hear them coming.”

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Chief Inspector Yu Zhang, who led the operation, said: “This week of action deliberately targeted the crimes that local people tell us matter most – from retail crime and drug offence to the illegal and reckless use of illegal e‑bikes.

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“Our approach is about protecting neighbourhoods and preventing harm early, taking dangerous weapons off the streets, seizing illegal vehicles and holding offenders to account.

“Londoners are at the heart of everything we do. Last year, neighbourhood crime across North West London fell by 6.4 per cent, with shoplifting in Brent down 10 per cent.”