This is the shameless moment shoplifters appear to stroll out of Tesco carrying bottles of alcohol, with security apparently powerless to step in.
Video footage appears to show a group of three men, dressed in dark puffer coats and baseball caps, pilfering bottles of spirits from a store in West Drayton, London.
Two security guards approach the men, but they step back when they move to exit the store.
They can be heard laughing and chanting as the two security guards appear powerless to prevent them from leaving.
It comes as MailOnline reported earlier this year that 2023 was the worst year on record for shoplifting offences.
A total of 430,104 offences were recorded by police in the year to December 2023, up by more than a third (37%) from 315,040 in the previous 12 months.
The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
When approached for comment by MailOnline, Met Police said: 'Due to the significant number of media enquiries we receive each day we aren’t able to look into the specific circumstances of individual shoplifting incidents such as this.'
Tesco has been approached by MailOnline for comment.
Shoplifters appeared to stroll out of Tesco with their spoils while security were powerless to step in
Video footage appears to show a group of men putting bottles of alcohol in a bag
Footage shows the three men walking past security who appear powerless to stop them
Retail bosses have accused ministers of allowing shoplifting to become effectively decriminalised, with many police forces failing to attend the majority of reports and failing to gather any evidence when they do.
Under 40 per cent of shoplifting reports were attended by the Met between April 2022 and April 2023, recent figures revealed.
The British Retail Consortium, the body which represents almost all of the major retail chains, recently said that incidents of customer theft had more than doubled from 8million to 16.7million between September 22 and August 2023.
The cost-of-living crisis is considered to be the main driving force for the UK's shoplifting epidemic, while others have listed reasons including lack of police intervention and organised crime.
In May, an ex-shoplifter who claims to have stolen £3million worth of goods says thieves now 'have a licence to steal'.
Recovered heroin addict Cullan Mais, 32, was jailed 10 times for shoplifting, serving a total of three years.
The Cardiff-based podcaster, who works for a charity which helps people with drug addictions, said: 'People now have total licence to steal.
'If it's on an organised level, the sentences need to be harsher, because at the end of the day these people know penalties are weak.
A total of 430,104 offences were recorded by police in the year to December 2023. The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003
Cullan Mais, 32, of Cardiff, was sent to prison 10 times for shoplifting (left, while addicted to drugs, and right, Mr Mais now, having overcover his drug addiction)
Two shoplifters were caught brazenly stealing products from a Boots store just yards from a police station - as helpless staff watch on
The pair can be seen chucking products from the shelves into big black sports bags at the store on Station Road, Chingford
'When you go to an off licence, everything is behind Perspex - it's a bit dystopian, but it works.
'Big supermarkets should lock up all meat, booze, aftershave, and then just have a guy there whose job it is to unlock the goods for shoppers.'
The epidemic of shoplifting has seen shops resort to desperate measures to protect stock, with shoppers in Codsall left stunned after spotting a £2 chocolate bar locked inside a security box in a Co-op supermarket.
Meanwhile, one Tesco branch in Theydon Bois, Essex, has begun putting security tags on shopping baskets due to a rise in the number of people helping themselves to 'five-finger discounts'.
Another Tesco in Bristol has started checking customers on CCTV before letting them into the store in a 'nightclub-style door policy'.
The branch in Southville has also moved their shopping baskets away from the doors to stop thieves piling them up with shopping and running out.
This security-protected bar of Dairy Milk Wholenut was seen at a Co-op in Codsall in Staffordshire
It leaves the automatic doors shut until customers are viewed on camera to see if they are suspected or well-known thieves.
Staff say the policy is in operation between 6am and 9am and in the late evenings when no security guards are on duty.
Richard Inglis, who runs a chain of Co-op stores in Hampshire, said police had told him they would not investigate shoplifting offences unless the theft is over £200, there is clear CCTV and the criminal's full name is known.
Mr Inglis said: 'It used to be a police officer would have come down, taken a statement and CCTV. But as they have cut back on resources we have to do our own statements now and upload the CCTV to a system and those cases are then reviewed.
'The burden of proof we have to provide now is so extreme.
'I have been told by the police that the value of the stock has to be over £200 and if I don't know their name and don't have a clear shot of their face on CCTV then it won't get to court.'
