SHOPPERS at a UK retailer “did a double take” after they spotted a popular chocolate bar locked behind security cases.
Confused punters at the Co-op in Cambridge were left open-mouthed after they noticed £1.25 Galaxy bars secured in perspex cases.
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Retailers will typically lock up high-risk or expensive items like razors or alcohol to clamp down on theft.
“I did a double take when I saw it,” one shopper shared.
“It used to just be expensive items but now a bar of chocolate that costs just over £1?
“It’s very sad.”
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Shoplifting offences recorded by cops in England and Wales have spiked by a quarter in the past year, Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed.
Meanwhile, more than 200,000 shoplifting cases went unsolved in the past year, new figures show.
Consequence-free thefts have now hit a five year high in what MPs are calling a “growing crime epidemic”.
In the last 12 months an average of 560 yobs got away with stealing every day.
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Home Office statistics show across England and Wales 205,676 unsolved shoplifting cases made up 57 per cent of total crimes without conviction.
Meanwhile, only around one in seven thefts ended in a suspect being charged or summonsed, down from 19 per cent in 2019.
The Co-op said its food business lost £33m in the first six months of 2023.
And it’s not the only supermarket which has resorted to locking away its items.
One Spar store in Burnley, Lancs, has taken steps to combat soaring theft by putting empty jars of coffee on display.
While earlier this year, Morrisons decided to lock away alcohol in glass cases.
Visitors to the branch off Hagley Road, Five Ways in Birmingham, have to press a button and then wait for an assistant to turn up who then unlocks the door.
The Sun has reached out to Co-op for comment.
