A shop owner has shared shocking footage of small children wearing balaclavas and stealing from his premises.
CCTV footage depicts the moment two young children, dressed in balaclavas, steal from a shop (Image: Erdogan Yigitoglu / SWNS)
A businessman has shared footage of young children in balaclavas raiding his shop as he continues to tackle the shoplifting problem in his area. Shopkeeper 52-year-old Erdogan Yigitoglu has run his shop in Bournemouth for almost two decades, and has described the worsening shoplifting epidemic in the seaside town. He has been sharing footage of incidents for the past few years in an effort to name and shame perpetrators stealing from his business.
Although shoplifting is nothing new, he said he was rather shocked to see children as young as five donning balaclavas and stealing from his store. A group of tiny shoplifters are seen in the footage crossing the road before rushing over to Yigitoglu’s shop to steal a watermelon and other fruit before they flee. The shop boss even said that the children’s mums appeared to pat them on the back and smile at a boy who was seen stealing, almost seeming like they were congratulating him on the theft.
The shop owner said the children appeared to be no older than five or six (Image: Erdogan Yigitoglu / SWNS)
The shop boss described the incident as “so shocking”, as the thieves appeared to be no more than five or six years old. He said they were very fast, having picked up the fruit before running away swiftly.
He said that he “couldn’t believe” when he saw the parents appearing to tell the children “well done” after the raid.
The footage is understood to be from last year. It was shared in an effort to identify the kids, but Yigitoglu said that nobody has come forward, and he has not seen them again.
Erdogan Yigitoglu who owns Premier Food and Wine (Image: Tom Wren / SWNS)
He has spent the past six years using CCTV footage to name and shame thieves in his store. He said that in some instances, people have actually returned to apologise and pay for what they stole after footage had been shared.
He explained that shoplifting is nothing new for his store, and there have been several alarming instances as of late.
In one incident, a man can be seen stealing £120 worth of disposable BBQs before dashing off. In another case, an elderly woman can be seen using her walking frame to steal chocolate.
Yigitoglu said that he believes his campaign of sharing CCTV footage on social media has helped bring down shoplifting in the area. He explained that the police are very busy and don’t always have time to deal with smaller crimes such as shoplifting.
He shared one of his biggest concerns, that children in the area are growing up to view this kind of behaviour as normal.