Shoplifting city gang is targeted by police

POLICE are targeting a gang of professional shoplifters based in north Edinburgh who are believed to be behind the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of goods around the country.

The criminals, known to enforcement agencies as the "Drylaw Gang", have a hardcore of six members, while other thieves are known to work alongside them.

The shoplifters work in teams, with some distracting shopkeepers and security staff to allow their cohorts to steal merchandise.

Gang members have become well-known in the city centre and no longer operate regularly in central Edinburgh where policing, CCTV coverage and store security is at its strongest.

Instead, the gang now travel to locations across the periphery of the Capital, the Central Belt, the Borders and the north of England.

But forces across the UK are co-operating to crackdown on the gang's operation, with their activities being detailed on shared intelligence databases.

The clampdown on the Drylaw Gang comes as city centre police said shoplifting had fallen in the city centre during the past eight months, while officers are also solving more cases.

Police chiefs said the fall, which comes despite predictions that shoplifting would rise in the economic recession, was due to a close working relationship with stores and increased patrols.

A total of 906 shoplifting offences were recorded between April and December last year, 80 per cent of which were solved, compared to the same period the previous year when 955 were recorded and 68 per cent solved.

Chief Inspector Kevin Murray, who is in charge of policing central Edinburgh, said: "Our intelligence has identified six individuals in the Drylaw Gang, who are both younger and older men, while there are others, men and women, with a looser affiliation that may work with them at times.

"They tend to move around, going to other parts of the city as well as across Scotland and the north of England. They travel to other retailers and use distraction techniques."

An analysis of shoplifting figures has revealed that serial shoplifters are not as active in the city centre as previously believed.

Between April 2008 and March last year, the 980 shoplifting offences recorded resulted in 691 different individuals being charged by police.

New figures released by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill last week also showed that only around one in six shoplifters convicted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court received a custodial sentence, with 159 out of 881 offenders jailed between April 2007 and March 2008.

Gavin Brown, Lothians Tory MSP, called on repeat offenders, such as members of the Drylaw Gang, to face tough punishments in court.

He said: "The use of direct measures and other fiscal fines is proving to be an ineffective deterrent."