Supermarkets storing chocolate in 'anti-theft boxes' amid surge in thefts

Chocolate has now become one of many high-value items being stolen to order as part of a crime wave, according to retailers.

Chocolate is being  “sold on by criminals and are now being targeted more frequently by prolific offenders," the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) said.

In one crime shared by Wiltshire Police, a man was seen dragging an entire shelf of chocolate out of a shop.

Last year, a man was arrested by Cambridgeshire Police while wearing a coat stuffed with Cadbury’s Creme Eggs.

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Supermarkets have had to resort to putting chocolate bars inside lockable plastic boxes which only staff can open as part of measures to deter thieves.

Co-Op said chocolate thefts cost it £250,000 last year with reports of people coming into shops and ‘swiping’ entire shelves.

Smaller retailers have resorted to only half-filling shelves to limit their losses.

Paul Cheema, owner of Malcom's convenience stores in Coventry, said: "Chocolate is the new buzzword for organised crime.

"It was razors, cheese, coffee. Today, these people that are taking stock from convenience stores, from supermarkets, it's taken to order. So chocolate is primetime now."

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Confectionery, like other products commonly stolen from local shops, is being re-sold through illicit markets that help fund wider criminal activity.

"Alongside better police support and effective sentences for repeat offenders, we need action to shut down the networks re-selling stolen goods."