![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/inside-supermarket-horror-as-gangs-run-riot-with-1000-attacks-in-months/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/OP_LY_CO-OP-RAM-RAID.jpg&description=ARMED gangs of shoplifters are running riot in supermarkets across the country but retail chiefs have accused police of ignoring them. Grocery giant The Co-op has recorded the highest level of shoplifting in its history - with 1,000 attacks each day over the past six months, new figures reveal. 3 Masked raiders ransack a Co-op store in Poole, Dorset - one of many targeted Credit: MET Police This is up by 35 per cent compared to last year and the Co-op says it has been forced to spend four times as much on security as other firms. Branch managers have told of harrowing ordeals such as groups of masked and armed youngsters battering through glass doors, leaping over kiosks and looting shelves. Assaults on staff are up by almost 30 per cent, with 20 per cent more anti-social behaviour and verbal abuse. Employees described being threatened by raiders threatening them with knives and screwdrivers. Now company chiefs have accused police forces of failing to help protect them. The Co-op submitted Freedom of Information requests which showed officers failed to respond to 71 per cent of serious retail crimes. The company says some areas could become no-go areas for them, with one store in London looted three times in one day. The Co-op has invested more than £200million in recent years into security measures - including CCTV, body-worn cameras for workers and GPS-tracked tags and cases. They are also putting more and more dummy packaging on shelves, including empty coffee jars , such is the soaring levels of theft - while treats such as chocolate bars are being locked away . The security bills means they are spending four times, per store, the average across the retail sector, the Times reported - costs which could become unsustainable in future, the firm fears. Matt Hood, managing director of Co-op Food, demanded police do more to crack down on "repeat and prolific offenders and organised criminal gangs". He said: "I have seen some horrific incidents of brazen and violent t){kind=link}
ARMED gangs of shoplifters are running riot in supermarkets across the country but retail chiefs have accused police of ignoring them.
Grocery giant The Co-op has recorded the highest level of shoplifting in its history – with 1,000 attacks each day over the past six months, new figures reveal.
This is up by 35 per cent compared to last year and the Co-op says it has been forced to spend four times as much on security as other firms.
Branch managers have told of harrowing ordeals such as groups of masked and armed youngsters battering through glass doors, leaping over kiosks and looting shelves.
Assaults on staff are up by almost 30 per cent, with 20 per cent more anti-social behaviour and verbal abuse.