Police arrested 33 theft suspects and recovered thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise during a holiday season anti-shoplifting blitz at Burnaby's Metrotown mall last month.
The so-called "boost and bust" initiative ran between Dec. 11 and 14 and saw the recovery of about $11,600 in stolen merchandise, including seven pairs of luxury sunglasses worth nearly $4,500, $878 in clothing stolen from an athletic store and $1,000 in beauty items stolen from a big-box retailer, according to a Burnaby RCMP news release.
Police said two knives were seized from one suspect who allegedly stole nearly $1,900 worth of merchandise from a cosmetics store.
"This Boost and Bust happened over the busy holiday shopping season, and by working together with partners to tackle theft we were able to mitigate thousands of dollars in financial losses for our retail community," spokesperson Cpl. Laura Hirst said in the release.
Burnaby RCMP partnered with Metrotown security and loss prevention officers as well as other nearby police agencies, according to the release.
One of the suspects arrested during the campaign was identified as a prolific offender, 12 had violent criminal histories, two were wanted on warrants and two were found of be breaching court-ordered conditions.
Two teens accused of stealing clothes were referred to Burnaby RCMP’s youth restorative justice program, which is designed to give youth offenders the opportunity to take responsibility for their actions and learn from their mistakes outside of the criminal justice system.
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