What started out as a simple shoplifting investigation at a Langford store has led police to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen property as far away as Markham, Ontario.
In July, investigators with the West Shore RCMP initially set out to identify two women, accused of stealing over $3,000 worth of high end cosmetics products from a Shoppers Drug Mart store on Jacklin Road.
See also: Two women caught on camera stealing $3,000 of beauty products from Langford store
Soon, police uncovered similar thefts that had taken place at Shoppers Drug Mart stores in Sidney and Saanich.
Each of these incidents allegedly involved the same two women and, in one case, one additional male suspect.
After analyzing a series of surveillance videos and following up on leads, officers were able to identify the male suspect as a resident of Markham, Ontario.
“That’s when we contacted York Regional Police and sought assistance in our investigation,” said Cpl. Fred Ritchie, West Shore RCMP Crime Reduction Unit.
“York Regional Police monitored the address in Markham, Ontario and observed boxes filled with stolen items from all over Canada were being delivered to Markham, Ontario.”
Investigators thus uncovered a major national stolen goods operation, involving thefts at stores across B.C., Alberta, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and those goods then shipped to Ontario.
A follow up investigation by the York Regional Police Department led them to recover more than $250,000 in stolen property, including cosmetics, perfume, health care products, smoke alarms, electric hand tools and many other items. Over $67,000 in cash was also seized.
A total of 13 people are now facing charges in connection with this operation:
Photos of the stolen goods, courtesy of the York Regional Police department are below:
