Brazen masked thieves were caught on camera raiding a Tesco Express store, shamelessly looting bags filled with items in broad daylight.
Staff stood helplessly as the criminals helped themselves to several behind the counter items worth hundreds of pounds before fleeing the shop.
The five masked men armed with duffel bags ransacked the tobacco and cigarette locker whilst stealing bottles of spirits.
Horrified Tesco staff could be seen filming the thugs as they rummaged through the supermarket goods and made away unchallenged.
Brazen masked thieves were caught on camera raiding a Tesco Express store, shamelessly looting bags filled with items in broad daylight
Staffed stood helplessly by as the thugs rummaged through the tobacco counter and filled their bags with spirits
Despite staff at the Forest Road branch in Walthamstow being entirely defenceless against the thugs, some online have criticised them as well as police.
It comes as shocking figures show Britain’s stores are suffering two thefts every minute as retail theft has hit its highest level since records began.
A staggering 469,788 offences were logged in the year to June 2024, which is up 29 per cent on the 365,173 recorded in the previous 12 months.
It equates to a horrifying 9,000 offences a week and 1,290 a day – meaning there are two every minute for the average store’s 10 hour opening times.
The number of thefts has also surged by 20 per cent to 139,368 offences, the highest number recorded since April 2002.
At the same time, robberies have risen by six per cent to 81,931 in a year, and robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument were also up 11 per cent in the period.
The five thieves made off with hundreds of pounds worth of goods from the Walthamstow store
Chief constables now face questions about policing priorities after official data revealed nearly 6,000 crimes went unsolved every day last year, with 40 per cent of all recorded crimes going unpunished.
The alarming figures come a year after forces made unprecedented pledges to investigate reasonable lines of inquiry in every crime and visit every single burgled home after a national uplift programme delivered an extra 20,000 officers.
Yet despite all the promises and new recruits, the latest figures suggest that thousands of people are still being denied justice every day.
According to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales is at the highest level in 20 years.
It comes as police were urged to get back to their ‘core mission’ after new figures revealed record levels of knife crime, robberies, as well as shoplifting.
There was an increase in overall knife crime by four per cent to 50,973 offences, which is an average of 140 incidents every day.
Footage filmed earlier this year shows a group of men brazenly grabbing goods from a Boots store in north London before loading them into bags in front of shocked shoppers (file photo)
Footage shows a brave Poundland employee grappling with a shoplifter in a store at Westway Cross Shopping Park in Greenford (file photo)
Phone footage shows young shoplifters battling past staff to steal trainers from a Nike shop in the shadows of Wembley Stadium (file photo)
David Spencer, Head of Crime and Justice at Policy Exchange said on October 24: ‘Today’s crime figures show the impact of the police being too often distracted from their core mission of fighting crime.
‘For the sake of the law-abiding majority, the focus of the Government, police and wider criminal justice system should be on putting those prolific offenders responsible behind bars for as long as necessary to keep our streets safe.’
Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary said retailers were facing a crime ‘epidemic’:
‘It is increasingly common for retail stores to be targeted by organised crime gangs stealing to order,’ he said.
‘This is in no way a victimless crime, with weapons and violence used to ensure these criminals are not stopped.
‘This 29 per cent increase in theft from shops is further evidence that we are facing an ongoing epidemic of retail crime, which is hugely concerning.’
MailOnline has approached both Tesco and the Metropolitan Police for comment.
