Stolen goods sold on Melbourne streets as cost-of-living crisis drives supermarket theft

Supermarket thieves are preying on struggling Melbourne families as cost-of-living pressures continue, selling stolen goods cheaply on the footpath.

Black market grocery rings are in full swing in St Albans, with make-shift meat markets popping up along the suburbs’ main drag Alfrieda St.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Supermarket thieves preying on struggling families.

While the problem isn’t new, police say it has escalated as people continue to feel the financial pinch of rising day-to-day costs, such as groceries.

Brought to the area in shopping trolleys or shopping bags, thieves lay an arrangement of eye fillets, pork belly and fish on the ground, ready for their next customer.

The items have all been stolen from local supermarkets and are sold for a price so affordable many can’t resist.

It’s not just meat being illegally sold, Acting Inspector Raj Tillekeratne told 7NEWS, but also expensive cosmetics, liquor and a range of other household items.

“There’s people who just come and buy it at a cheaper rate,” he said.

“(Some sellers steal) to order, someone would say I need 20kg of meat and they’d go and steal that.”

President of the St Albans Business Group Association Sebastian Agricola said the make-shift markets tarnished the image of Alfrieda St which is known for being a multicultural foodie hotspot.

He said there were also health concerns related to people buying meat which has been out in the street and not kept in fridges.

“It’s damn dangerous from a public health point of view, would you buy meat on a hot day off the floor?,” he said.

“But people do.

“They’re (the sellers) quite smart in the way they do it but we’re determined to do what we need to do in conjunction with police to stop this.”

More than 700 retail thefts have been recorded in the Brimbank local government area this year.

Victoria Police have launched a targeted blitz to stop thieves in the act, with one man recently busted at St Albans station with 10 jars of coffee while another was caught with a bag full of face cream.

Police have also extended their warning to those thinking about buying from the illegal sellers.

“It’s an offence to buy stolen goods so we’ll be targeting those people as well,” Tillekeratne said.

However Agricola said many locals did not appreciate how serious it was to purchase stolen goods and were happy to risk the consequences just to save a buck.

“The cost-of-living crisis hasn’t helped but ... people want to buy cheap stuff, they don’t care how they get it, they don’t realise they can be charged,” he said.

In a statement to 7NEWS.com.au a Coles spokesperson said it had a range of security measures in place to reduce theft such as smart gate technology and CCTV.

“Additionally, trolley lock technology has been in place at a number of our stores in recent years and this technology uses sensors to prevent trolleys leaving the store if someone hasn’t first paid at a register,” the spokesperson said.

Woolworths also employs its own “covert and overt” tactics to reduce theft in its stores, a spokesperson said.

“The majority of our customers do the right thing and we thank them for doing so,” they said.