A newsagency and c-store in Ipswich said it is ambushed by a “pack” of children regularly, resulting in thousands of dollars in theft.
C-store owner Peter Clymo said the pack of around nine children ambush his store every day.
“Rexona Sports just goes straight down their necks, they’re drinking the stuff,” he told The Queensland Times.
“We lost seven or eight cans of deodorant in the past four weeks and that’s just the deodorant. They steal everything because they go everywhere.”
Mr Clymo also said he’s had drinks, flavoured milk, chips, lollies and chocolate bars stolen from his store.
This is not the first time the store has faced thieves.
“There used to be four persistent young girls in full school uniforms who would take about $14 worth of stuff every single day. I was smiling and talking nicely to them when the girls were hiding things up their sisters’ dresses and stealing all the chocolate bars,” he said.
“It’s been happening for six or seven years but now, in the past two years, we have a pack mentality where they are running together.”
Mr Clymo has expressed fear for his staff as usually there is only person working in the shop at a time.
According to The Queensland Times, there have almost 250 reports to the police of stealing and theft crimes in and around the Redbank area.
A spokesperson for the Queensland Police Service said there were resources for the area to address antisocial behaviour by young people.
“Resources are allocated to the Redbank Plaza Beat Office and additional staff when available during peak shopping times,” they said.
“The Railway Squad also maintains an outpost at the Redbank Railway Station. As always in Ipswich, we deal closely with the Safe City network to identify and locate offenders.”
“We are committed to investigating cases of shoplifting in the Redbank area and work closely with business owners encouraging them to report incidents to police when they occur.”