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London Two-Week Retail Crime Crackdown: 42 Arrested, 11 Shops Hit With Closure Orders
The Met visited around 400 shops suspected of buying and reselling stolen goods, seizing tens of thousands of pounds worth of suspected stolen stock; 42 arrested, 11 shops issued closure orders.
Why it matters
London retailers have long suffered shoplifting, but behind the thefts lies an organized resale chain: prolific thieves steal to order, and rogue shops buy and resell the loot. This operation struck the end of that chain in one of the Met's largest actions of its kind.
Two-week operation results
The Metropolitan Police announced in the early hours of October 22 that its two-week operation, codenamed Zoridon, saw officers visit around 400 shops suspected of buying and reselling stolen goods. Tens of thousands of pounds worth of suspected stolen stock — from expensive cosmetics and electrical goods to food products — was seized, 42 people were arrested and 11 shops were issued closure orders. Months of joint work with retailers and Trading Standards preceded the operation.
Stealing to order, forensic marking
Police say prolific shoplifters steal to order from major high-street retailers, targeting specific products on "shopping lists" supplied by those buying and reselling stolen goods. Retailers marked their most frequently targeted products with SelectaDNA, a forensic marking with a unique code visible under UV light, letting officers link recovered goods directly back to the stores they were stolen from.
Seizures across the capital
In Hounslow, a phone shop yielded 300 suspected stolen phones and £15,000 in cash, and the store was handed a three-month closure order; in Brixton, dozens of phones and over £5,000 in cash were seized at a mobile phone shop with three arrests; in Lewisham, officers found suspected stolen Tesco tinned mackerel, a machete and suspected stolen passports and driving licences stored in a sweet tin; in Clapham, £1,000 of branded meat, knives and Class B drugs were recovered; and at car boot sales in Hounslow, five pallets of suspected stolen tools and counterfeit Dyson products were seized with three arrests.
Official reaction
Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes said: "If you profit from retail crime, you will be arrested." Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called shoplifting "not a victimless crime" and said criminals must be stopped from exploiting the busy pre-Christmas shopping period. Met figures show shoplifting fell 3.7% across London in 2025 while positive outcomes for investigations doubled.
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