Two men have been charged with stealing dozens of bottles of alcoholic drinks worth thousands of pounds in a high-value supermarket shoplifting spree.
Sussex Police said today (Tuesday 11 February): “Two men have been charged with a series of alcohol thefts from supermarkets in Sussex.
“On Saturday 8 February at around 6pm, Cezar Soare, 39, and Andrei Secere, 37, both of no fixed address, were arrested at Asda, in Hollingbury, after security intercepted them as they exited the premises.
“This followed CCTV identifying two men behaving suspiciously in the spirits aisle.
“Officers conducted inquiries in the nearby area and located a car containing approximately £2,100 of stolen alcohol and other items.
“Many of the bottles of spirit were found to still have their security tags attached.”
Police said that they investigated the Hollingbury Asda case and similar cases elsewhere. These included incidents at the Brighton Marina Asda and Sainsbury’s in Newhaven, both also on Saturday, as well as at a Sainsbury’s in Chichester on Thursday 28 November.
Sussex Police added: “The men were charged on Sunday 9 February and remanded to appear in court the following morning.”
Soare was charged with
• Five counts of theft from a shop
• Two counts of attempted theft from a shop
• Conspiring to steal from a shop
• Going equipped to steal
Secere was charged with
• Three counts of theft from a shop
• Two counts of attempted theft from a shop
• Conspiring to steal from a shop
• Going equipped to steal
As well as the Sussex incidents, each of the men was charged with separately stealing drink worth more than £1,000 from an Asda in Fareham, Hampshire.
And both were accused of making off with drink worth £673 from a Morrisons in Caterham, Surrey, while Soare was charged with targeting a small Tesco in Bournemouth.
At Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Monday 10 February), the bench remanded both men in custody, with their next court appearance due on Monday 10 March.
Glad they are remanded in custody, what’s ever happened to the travellers free for all looting last summer in Asda Brighton marina?
The drink was worth 2 grand in the shop.
So halving the price of that when they sell it,
They weren’t far from pocketing £500 each.
Seems a hell of a lot of agro when I can get that for working for a few days.!
Petty thieves aren’t particularly known for their business acumen.
BUT will they be deported asap?