A TEENAGE gang is ‘marauding’ through Scotland’s high streets using free bus passes to go on violent shoplifting sprees.
The band of criminals is reckoned to be 42 strong and have stolen £37,000 worth of stock in around 160 separate incidents.
Marching into stores without bothering to hide their faces, they have been captured on camera sweeping high value goods off the shelves and into bags.
Russell Findlay, the newly elected Scottish Conservative leader, said it was suspected the group were working under adult organised criminals.
Although the gang remains active Police Scotland told the Mail yesterday that a number of charges had been brought.
Shoplifters have been using free bus passes to travel to stores
Revelations of the gang’s exploits follow alarming figures which show a dramatic increase in retail crime across Scotland. Shoplifting cases have risen by 35 per cent in the last year and Co-op boss Kate Graham has described the situation as ‘anarchy’.
‘What we are seeing is blatant looting,’ she said.
Reels of CCTV footage capture the gang of youths doing just that. Reports and video evidence of their activities are collated by the organisation Retailers Against Crime whose managing director Maxine Fraser says store security staff present no deterrent to them.
She said: ‘There are 42 of them, the majority of them are under 18 and they’re really marauding throughout Glasgow division, Central Scotland and Edinburgh – and they’re fearless.
‘They are so brazen. They walk into stores and when the security officers say “you can’t take that” they turn around and say “you can’t touch me”.’
Ms Fraser added: ‘They are extremely violent. They have thrown bottles at staff and customers – because there are no consequences.’
She said the gang was based in Glasgow but travelled by bus around the Central Belt for their shop raids in which their prime target was alcoholic spirits.
The majority, she said, were believed to be using free bus passes which the Scottish Government has allowed to be issued to those aged five to 21 since 2022.
Thus far they have hit stores in areas including Edinburgh city centre, Stirling, Falkirk, Dumbarton and Prestwick.
Ms Fraser said the police should be given statutory powers to remove free bus passes from people using them to engage in criminality. Currently they would be able to confiscate travel passes only under the direction of a court.
She added that increasingly lenient treatment of young people by the police and the courts in Scotland was helping gangs like this one to thrive.
She said: ‘Whoever decided on these laws has no idea what is going on out in the retail world because they don’t listen, and they need to listen to the retailers.
‘It’s very serious and parliament needs at act immediately. They need to do something now.’
Speaking in parliament, Mr Findlay said retail violence was now ‘rife’ and some staff had already been killed. He suggested the shoplifting figures were now largely irrelevant – due partly to under-reporting.
He said: ‘Retail crime is out of control in Scotland. And it’s not me saying that, it’s the retailers and the police.’
Mr Findlay added: ‘If retailers call the police and they don’t attend there is no consequence. If a thief is caught but given a recorded police warning instead of being charged there is no consequence – and if they are charged the chance of a conviction has become close to non-existent.
‘By deliberately and systematically removing consequences there is no deterrent and this leads to the inevitable consequence of criminals who believe they can act with impunity.’
Referring to the youth gang targeting towns around Central Scotland Mr Findlay said: ‘It’s targeted and it’s organised. The gang members are brazen. They make no attempts to hide their faces and they sweep high value items from the shelves.’
He said he had seen numerous ‘sickening’ CCTV videos of them ‘spitting on staff, punching them, threatening them, doing what they want’.
He added: ‘It’s inevitable that more people will end up dead. The police tell the retailers that their hands are tied and I speak with police officers who often feel powerless and frustrated.
‘It seems the Scottish Government is content to sub-contract retail security onto the shoulders of the retailers.’
The Scottish Grocer’s Federation Scottish Crime Report for 2023/24 suggested cases of shoplifting had doubled in the last year. The report also highlights that many retailers were reluctant to report cases of shoplifting to the police due to slow response times.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘We are aware of a number of recent reports of shoplifting in the central belt which appear to be linked.
‘Following targeted enforcement, there have been 170 charges in relation to these crimes and reports have been submitted to the relevant authorities.
‘Officers continue to pay particular attention to areas and premises known to be targeted by crime groups. We’re working with retailers and partner agencies to advise on prevention measures.’