A Glasgow shop owner has spoken of her shock after CCTV captured a toddler, said to be “no more than three”, stuffing items down her pyjamas in a store in Bridgeton. Shamly Sud said she was left “gob smacked” by the distressing scenes of child exploitation, adding that the young girl, who was with an adult and appeared to have been “trained”, was seen stealing in the shop.
Rising thefts and younger offenders
Shamly said theft has shot up “massively” at her businesses, while perpetrators are getting “younger and younger”. Her comments come weeks after the Record reported how children as young as seven are driving a new wave of “lawless” retail crime, with shopkeepers too afraid to tackle them for fear of being labelled child abusers.
In August this year, a shop owner in East Lothian confronted a brazen thief “pocketing items” from the shelves of his store. CCTV cameras caught the man swiping goods, appearing to put them in a plastic bag and his pockets while at the Longniddry Village Shop.
Confrontation at Longniddry Village Shop
Owner Hamish confronted the man during the incident at around 2.40pm on Sunday, August 23. He described the incident as a “distressing experience” as the would-be thief allegedly became “aggressive”. In CCTV footage shared by the Kitchener Crescent store, a man could be seen removing goods from the shelves and placing them into a plastic bag before staff approached him.
Hamish has shared the footage in the hopes of warning other local businesses. He told Edinburgh Live: “The individual entered the shop, took goods without paying and became aggressive when challenged. He attempted to assault staff, however was unsuccessful because his speed was as slow as his thieving skills and he was thwarted.” It is understood that no arrests have yet been made in connection.
Vape theft in West Lothian
In June 2025, a youth was captured on CCTV stealing a box of vapes from Broxburn Mini Market on East Main Street in West Lothian at around 9pm on June 30. In the footage, a teenage male in grey shorts with a black and grey hooded top can be seen entering the store and, noticing no one in his direct vicinity, ducking down to grab a box of vapes off the back wall from behind the till before making off.
The footage was uploaded to social media by furious bosses at the shop. In a post, they said: “This boy just came in now, he steals a full box of vapes, he apparently looks under 18. If anyone knows his name please inbox us.” Police confirmed on Friday, October 16, that all available lines of enquiry are complete, with a Police Scotland spokesperson saying any new information “will be assessed”.
Break-in at Edinburgh coffee shop
In October 2024, traders in the quiet Edinburgh area of Marchmont said gangs of thieves were wreaking havoc on their businesses. A gang broke into Detour Espresso in Argyll Place by lobbing a brick at the window, leaving a trail of destruction. They raided the family premises for cash but only made off with a bank business card, which they used to buy burgers at McDonald's.
Owner Matt Rees, 55, who was working alongside his daughter Lillie on Friday, discovered the break-in after waking up to bank notifications on his phone. He said: “I woke up on Sunday morning to an alert on my phone saying someone had tried to use the business card to buy burgers in McDonald’s on Princess Street. This must have been at around 4.30am. I figured out we must have left the bank card in the café and a break-in had taken place. When we arrived we found the front window had been smashed in with a rock. We do not take cash so there is never any money in here but you could see they had searched behind the till. Surprisingly the poetry books were still on the shelf but the card was gone.”
Assault on shopkeeper in Musselburgh
In March this year, CCTV footage showed a girl gang storming into a store before a staff member was hit in the face at Pinkie Farm in Musselburgh. Dan Brown, who runs the business, was forced to up his security with thefts on the rise, telling of battling 10 or more incidents of shoplifting or attempted stealing each day, often accompanied with a “level of abuse and assault”.
While he feels the police are just as frustrated as he is, Dan suggested shoplifters are feeling “more and more confident” due to a lack of deterrent. Pinkie Farm is now fitted with AI-assisted security that captures incidents within the shop and automatically sends this to police, though Dan says there is “only so much” that this can do. Police Scotland say available lines of enquiry are now complete, however any new information will be assessed.
