Desperate drug addicts broke into a charity shop alleyway to steal a bag of rags worth 70p.
The incident at the Salvation Army shop in Arbroath was just one of a catalogue of raids to hit retailers in the last few weeks in a town they claim is besieged by shoplifters.
Figures requested from the Crown Office detail the full extent of the issue, with almost one shoplifting incident from the town reported to the procurator fiscal for every day of the year.
And statistics obtained under Freedom of Information show Arbroath has had almost twice as many shoplifting detections 849 as any other Angus burgh since 2010.
Shop manager Debra Navin said her volunteer staff have to deal with at least two or three thieves every week, the majority of whom are funding a drug habit.
“They take off their shoes and leave them on the shelves so they can walk out with new ones,” she said. “I approach them. I’m not afraid. The last one had about 20 items in her bag and she was high as a kite.”
Debra said the addicts steal items to sell or to exchange for low sums at cash for clothes outlets.
“I have no sympathy because stealing from charity is the lowest of the low,” she added.
Across the High Street, Carol Smith, manager at the Cancer Research shop, estimated it loses more than £1,500 per year to thieves running tested scams.
“One will come round and turn around the hangers on certain things and then the other will come in and take them,” she said.
“We often know who it is. We had a young lad who was in at the DVDs. I wasn’t paying any attention to him. When he left he tried to open the door and half a dozen discs fell out his jacket.”
Mainstream stores in the town are also suffering.
Shane Mountford, owner of Valys Menswear, said his shop had been targeted in the last month.
“In Arbroath we tend to know who the shoplifters are they have certain behaviours that give them away,” he said.
“We follow them around the shop to the point where it becomes embarrassing for them and they leave.
“In a year we probably lose between £400 and £500. It is not a booming trade time just now and being an independent trader makes it difficult because they are effectively stealing directly from me.
“We have one who the police discovered was stealing to order. If they were stealing a jumper because they are cold I could almost forgive that, but this is just for profit.”
A shopkeeper on Keptie Street, near the town centre, said the issue was less prevalent there but businesses are still on guard.
“The police came round to warn us about gangs of foreigners. They will come in in a big crowd and while you are watching them somebody else will be stealing at the other side of the shop.”
Arbroath councillor David Fairweather, who used to own clothing outlets in the town, said there has always been an issue there.
“It got to the stage where these shoplifters were the bane of my life. It wasn’t just people from Arbroath folk were coming through from Dundee and beyond to steal clothing.
“A lot of people assume small retailers are covered by insurance, but that is not the case.”
Total shoplifting detections in Angus from 2010 to November 2013:
Arbroath 849
Forfar 445
Montrose 320
Brechin and Edzell 113
Kirriemuir and Dean 60
Carnoustie 22
Monifieth and Sidlaw 20
Unknown 11