Turns out Canadians may be polite, but they're also rabid shoplifters.
Oh, Canadaβ¦
From CTV News:
In an email to CTV News, the Retail Council of Canada says that 'grocery theft is rising in Canada, driven by a mix of economic pressure and increasingly organized retail crime. While affordability challenges are real for many Canadians, what retailers are seeing more of is coordinated, repeat theft tied to organized networks,' the statement read.
'Eastern European organized crime has certainly been involved, and this isn't just a big city problem, it's happening straight across the country,' says CTV News crime specialist, Mark Mendelson.
Authorities have pegged grocery store self-checkout aisles as a major site for shoplifting.
This month, Guelph police arrested a man who they claim swapped out expensive products for cheaper ones at self-checkouts. Police claim that the individual in question would scan items that cost less than one dollar, in exchange for baby formula priced at $97 dollars each.
Those tricky Canadians. But it turns out there's no place safe from the shoplifting, including parked vehicles.
Just last August, in Windsor, Ont., more than $220,000 worth of beef was stolen from a parked tractor-trailer. The large-scale heist is another example of lucrative grocery crimes on the rise.
(Please refrain from any "Where's the beef?" jokes. This is serious.)
Thus far, authorities are stumped as to what to do about the epidemic of theft, but rest assured that everyone in Canada is very sorry.
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