A plain-clothes police officer arrested a prolific Nottingham shoplifter after being spotted on CCTV.
Javid Alizai was detained at Tesco Express, in Long Row, Nottingham city centre, by an officer who was already at the store as part of an investigation into shoplifting.
PC Matthew Thomas was in the store’s CCTV office and recognised Alizai as a repeat offender. He then went onto the shop floor and arrested him on suspicion of multiple shop thefts.
The arrest took place on 22 November.
Alizai was taken into custody where he admitted to stealing items from the store on seven different occasions between 3 October and 7 November 2023.
The 26-year-old, of no fixed address, appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 1 December and pleaded guilty to seven counts of theft.
The court heard he stole approximately £600 worth of items – including wine, meat, energy drinks and confectionary products – across his shoplifting spree and that he had resorted to stealing to fund his drug habit.
He was given a community order comprising a drug rehabilitation programme and ordered to pay £625 in compensation.
Sergeant Louise Ellis, of the City Centre Operation Reacher team, which carried out the investigation and made the arrest, said:
“Alizai is a prolific shoplifter and I am pleased he has accepted responsibility for his repeated offending.
“As we often hear in cases of persistent shoplifting, it appears his offending escalated as a direct consequence of his drug addiction.
“I am therefore pleased he has been placed on a community rehabilitation programme. Such schemes are designed to help offenders turn their lives around and I hope Alizai maximises this opportunity, both for his own good and the sake of retail stores who are greatly damaged by shoplifting.”
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