Peterborough shop to have licence reviewed over suspected handling of stolen goods

A shop in Peterborough is to have its licence reviewed after police launched an investigation into the handling of stolen goods for personal gain at the premises.

UK Plus EU on Broadway is being investigated after a known shoplifter was seen in possession of stolen goods from a store in Hereward Cross on Monday November 13 at around 10:10am. He then entered the Broadway store and left without the goods; these were found minutes later in the storeroom of the shop by police.

On the same day at around 10am, a male shoplifter stole items from Poundland and cycled straight to UK PLUS EU. He entered the store with a heavy bag of stolen items and left a few minutes later with the bad visibly lighter.

The male was arrested by police and in the process discarded £15 in bank notes.

Officers then went inside the store and recovered £60 of stolen Galaxy chocolate bars, the exact items stolen from Poundland.

The following day, officers attended the shop to request CCTV and described some on the pricing of items close to the storeroom as ‘strange.’

Officers noted that: “Shelving contained Washing Capsules with sticky notes for pricing and “Yankee Candles”, these are items that are commonly stolen by shoplifters, as they easily sell on. The pricing system was clearly different to that of their other household products.”

A metal pole was also found laying on the floor behind the counter, it had tape around one end and string attached, which police suspected to be an adapted weapon and seized it.

Licence holder Mr Alan Ali-Amer was not present at the time of the incident but in their application for the licence review, police said: “The actions taken by the shoplifter immediately after the initial theft, to cycle directly to the premises would suggest that this is a known premises for handling stolen goods and that this was not the first

occasion.”

The force has requested that the council considers revoking the licence of the store and this application will now be considered by the city council’s licencing department.