BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A couple, who was on a shoplifting spree yesterday morning (Feb. 12), was caught at the Valu Mart IGA Supermarket on Wellington Road, St. Kitts and taken to the Basseterre Police Station.
The couple, whose names were not disclosed to this media house, had their images caught on the security cameras of four shopping establishments in Basseterre stealing a quantity of cheese and salami.
The first establishment the man and woman visited was King’s Pavilion Supermarket at Port Zante, where, at approximately 8:50 a.m. they stole two blocks of Yellow Cheddar Cheese valued at EC$167.45 and one tin of cheese, weighing one kg, valued at EC44.52.
On a visit to the supermarket, this media house was shown footages of the theft.
It was observed that they did not enter the supermarket together, but when the male had removed the first block of cheese and placed it on one of the shelves, the female stealthily picked it up and put it in a white bag that was slung over her left shoulder.
The same movements were observed in the theft of the second block of cheese, but in stealing the tin cheese, the woman placed it under her dress and they left the establishment undetected by human eyes.
They then journeyed to George Street in Newtown, entered C&C Super Foods at approximately 9:20 a.m. and stole a two-pound tin of Red and Yellow Cheese valued at EC$46.22.
There too they escaped undetected by the naked eye, but not by the security cameras.
Seemingly dissatisfied with their haul, the couple went further down George Street to J’s Shop & Save Grocery a few minutes after 9:30 a.m. and stole one tin of Three Men Cooked Chicken Salami valued at EC$32.64.
And the undetected trend continued.
Valu Mart IGA Supermarket was their next target.
It was not clear what time they arrived there; however, this media house learned that on entering, one of the employees had recognised the couple whose images were previously caught on camera.
The woman was observed as she picked up a 2.2kgs tin of Crest Processed Cheese, valued at EC$96.65, which she placed in her shoulder bag.
According to sources, the employee approached the woman and demanded she hand over the bag. She resisted but it was eventually taken from her.
The police were notified and a check of the bag revealed the other items earlier stolen.
Investigations led to the disclosure of the establishments from which the items were stolen and the senior employees/managers were informed, who subsequently identified the goods after a review of individual footages.
This media house also learned that this was not the first time the couple had stolen cheese from Valu Mart IGA Supermarket, and that management was on the lookout for the thieves who prey on their unsuspecting victims on Sundays.
Management of King’s Pavilion Supermarket, C&C Super Foods and J’s Shop & Save Grocery all said that in addition to security cameras, they have since implemented other systems to detect and prevent shoplifters from stealing their goods.
