Now Co-op puts £6 lamb chops in locked GPS-tracked cases to deter shoplifters in latest supermarket crackdown
LAMB chops and beef steaks have been put in security boxes in Co-op in an attempt to deter thieves.
The GPS-tracked plastic boxes contain sirloin steaks worth just £3.99 and lamb chops worth £6.
Rumps worth £4.75 can also be found boxed up in the Co-op branch in Hornsea, near Bridlington, East Yorkshire.
The containers have labels on them that read: “Caution. Security device. Must be removed at checkout before leaving the store.”
Customer Dylan John, 46, who was visiting the seaside town with his family, told Need To Know: “Talk about a steak out.
“I’ve never seen anything as crazy as lamb chops being protected by GPS tracking.
“I can just imagine boffins at NASA sitting in front of a big screen showing the UK.
“And little dots moving around showing where the lamb cutlets are. It’s bonkers.”
The update comes after the supermarket was reported putting even cheaper items, including £2 bars of chocolate, in security boxes in June.
The boxes also reportedly contained more expensive items like chicken, cleaning products, and even baby formula.
These measures follow a rise in shoplifting, now at its highest in 20 years according to the Office for National Statistics, with 50 crimes logged every hour in England and Wales.
The increase, caused by the cost-of-living crisis, has seen supermarket chains across the country take drastic measures to crackdown on thieving.
Sainsbury’s has started sticking security tags to bags of pasta worth as little as 85p, while Tesco begun locking baby formula in security cages earlier in the year.
This month, Tesco shoppers also noticed tins of spam locked away in anti-theft boxes and packs of teabags stamped with security stickers.
When approached for comment by the Sun, a spokesperson for Co-op, said: “The safety of colleagues is a key priority and security cases form part of a range of preventative measures to deter retail crime which is driven by repeat and prolific offenders and is all too often a flashpoint for violence, attacks and anti-social behaviour towards shopworkers.”
Shoplifting in numbers - how thieves are crippling Britain
Startling crime figures lay bare the anarchic crime wave blighting the nation’s high streets.
Police recorded 339,206 shoplifting incidents in the 12 months to March, yet the British Retail Consortium estimates the total number of retail thefts to be close to eight million.
Just 48,218 shoplifting cases recorded by the police, a derisory 14 per cent, resulted in a charge.
And 183,450 investigations — 54 per cent — were closed without a suspect being identified.
The BRC say retail theft rose by 26 per cent in England and Wales last year.