A MULTIPLE offender has been arrested by police in Cwmbran as part of a crack down on shoplifting in Torfaen.
Officers on patrol by the Asda shopping centre spotted a man who is wanted for multiple offences.
The 52-year-old was taken into custody.
Watch the footage of the man being arrested below.
A spokesperson for Gwent Police said: “Officers on patrol at Cwmbran shopping centre arrested a man on suspicion of theft offences, on Tuesday 17 December.
“A 52-year-old man from Cwmbran was charged with four counts of theft from a shop, and possession of a controlled drug of class A – cocaine.
“The man was remanded into custody.”
The arrest comes as part of Gwent Police’s crack down on shoplifting in Torfaen, an operation they have called Operation Tinsel.
Gwent Police Neighbourhood Inspector, Lee Stachow said: “Every year naturally, we do see an increase in shoplifting in and around Christmas time, and on the lead up to Christmas.
“It’s really, really important for me and the team to address that and show an increased uniform presence on the town centre.”
Watch Inspector Stachow’s message below:
Inspector Stachow said every offence has a victim and “that victim may be a business or it may be a person”.
“Nationally there has been a spike in shoplifting this year and we have seen an increase in shoplifting in Torfaen,” said Inspector Stachow.
In November, the Argus reported that shoplifting cases in Gwent up by 43% in the last year. This is most out of all the Welsh police areas.
Read about how Pontypool’s shoplifting compares to nearby areas here: Gwent shoplifting: Pontypool fares better than Newport
Inspector Stachow said: “We run an operation that starts in the beginning of November and runs up to the new year. We put some extra officers in high-visibility uniform on he town centre.”
(Image: Tristan Rees) Gwent Police Community Support Officers Jess Hawkins, Ebie Seedat and Sophie Bevington (L to R) in Cwmbran town centre.
Gwent Police are trying to stop as many shoplifting offences at the source by targeting reoffenders and getting them help so they cut their shoplifting habits.
Inspector Stachow said: “We work really closely with partners to look at shoplifting offenders and what support we can put in play to help reduce the reoffending basically.
“Ultimately we want to help these people, it’s not all about prosecution. It is to try and help these people to stop them reoffending. So we work with various partners around that.”