Former shoplifter, with links to Birmingham, claims he pinched £3million items
An ex-shoplifter who claims he pinched £3million worth of items says it’s too easy for thieves to get away with it and suggests shops display empty boxes to combat crime.
Cullan Mais, 32, says he used to steal £2k of items a day - up to £14k-a-week - shoplifting at the peak of his criminality and in total stole items with a retail value of £3million.He says shoplifting was “harder to kick” than his drug habit. He has since turned his life around but says shops make it too easy for shoplifters and advises them to put in place stricter measures to deter people.
Cullan suggests shop keepers should use empty boxes when displaying high value goods, avoid keeping spirits on the shop floor and place tills close to exits.
Cullan Mais, 32, says he used to steal £2k of items a day - up to £14k-a-week - shoplifting at the peak of his criminality and in total stole items with a retail value of £3million.He says shoplifting was “harder to kick” than his drug habit. He has since turned his life around but says shops make it too easy for shoplifters and advises them to put in place stricter measures to deter people.
Cullan suggests shop keepers should use empty boxes when displaying high value goods, avoid keeping spirits on the shop floor and place tills close to exits.
Transcript
00:00 started shoplifting to find out how I started shoplifting really you should
00:03 know how how it all all started really. Once I got addicted to heroin my family
00:09 didn't know about it at the time and I was getting money off them they were
00:12 kind of funding it without them knowing and I was working here and everywhere as
00:16 well but you know when they kind of clocked on to my addiction it went from
00:21 me selling all my private goods and stuff and then I started to go into the
00:26 city centre as a town and basically black people for many and pretend like I
00:31 was a lost student because I just I didn't want to commit crimes but once
00:36 that ran out once that novelty ran out and people knew what I was up to I
00:40 literally had no choice but to then commit crimes I thought that shoplifting
00:44 was kind of like the easiest way without actually you know doing a terrible crime
00:51 so to speak on the levels of criminality I think shoplifting at the bottom
00:56 so that's how we started we started off just locally you know shops in my city
01:03 in my city but once I met a girl my ex-girlfriend who had a set of wheels
01:08 it was kind of game over for me because then that is when I started to go out of
01:12 Cardiff out of my city hit a few small towns and come come back and sell it all
01:17 for half price. How do you stop shoplifting? I don't think you can stop
01:23 it fully. The climate we're in right now cost a living crisis not only have you
01:28 got the people like myself who are struggling with addictions who are
01:32 shoplifting but you also got people who were just struggling financially as well
01:36 and it's a double-edged sword as well because it's not only the people who are
01:41 shoplifting but people would rather buy off the shoplifters rather than go and
01:46 spend X amounts on a piece of steak instead of spending over five pounds on
01:50 one steak they'd rather spend ten pounds on ten steaks so the climate we're in
01:54 right now has made it a lot lot worse and prices are going up people are
01:58 struggling so I don't think you will ever stop that I do have my ideas which
02:03 I think I've learned over the last couple of years that could help stop a
02:06 lot of things talking about deterrence I know like security I didn't really want
02:11 to go into shops that had security I didn't want to roll on the floor and get
02:15 chased down the street I wanted to go in and come out discreetly and make sure
02:20 that I had my fix at the end of the day but there's loads of obvious ones
02:25 obviously I chose cooperative shops because they always had alcohol on shop
02:28 floor they will say to you that that's that's a way to to make sales but let me
02:33 tell you it's a way to lose sales because people will hit what's on that
02:38 floor and if you've got alcohol on the shop floor they're getting stolen. What
02:42 are some of the ways I used to use to get away from shoplifting I used to go
02:47 in dress smart no bags I just go in looking quite casual I'd always purchase
02:53 something whilst I was in there even if it cost 50p for a pack of chewing gums
02:58 just to make sure that I you know I've gone in there and purchased something I
03:01 haven't just gone in there and walked out for them to be suspicious I'd even
03:04 go in there with a ten pound note and just ask for two five pound notes just
03:07 so they could see I've gone in there and interacted with them I think you have
03:11 two different types of shoplifting and I have done both but you have the one that
03:16 goes in there goes in discreet and tries to come out with as much as they can and
03:20 then you've got the ones who literally just go in there we call them kamikaze
03:25 pilots they'll just rack up everything and do a runner I have done that you
03:30 know at the lowest of times but the majority of times I did it I would go in
03:35 and conceal everything in my deep pockets how did I turn it round I turned
03:39 it round because I stopped taking drugs it's as simple as that during 2020
03:44 lockdown I got rushed to hospital thought I was gonna die for the first
03:48 time ever I genuinely wanted to change I thought I cannot go on like this
03:52 anymore I didn't have another prison sentence in me and I certainly didn't
03:56 have another heroin rattle within me yeah I turned it round because I
04:00 stopped taking drugs don't get it twisted I think shoplifting is an
04:03 addiction and I've got an addictive personality and the buzz and you know
04:08 traveling the country and making easy money is is definitely something that
04:13 you know appealed to me but as soon as I stopped taking drugs I knew that was it
04:20 for me typical day of shoplifting would include planning my destination the day
04:24 before getting up early getting on the motorway getting to our location and
04:29 then typing cooperative shops say like we went to Birmingham for the day type
04:34 in cooperative shops around Birmingham we were trying to avoid the the heavily
04:39 deprived areas because they're more than likely being hit hard by shoplifting as
04:44 well and there wouldn't be much on the shop floors we would look for the nice
04:47 suburban areas in and around Birmingham and then what we would do is work our
04:51 way back down to Cardiff in every valley village town whatever we could until the
04:58 car was full soon as we get home we'd ring up some of our contacts who would
05:02 buy in bulk and sell it all as soon as I've sold it I'm going straight to my
05:06 drug dealer I'm locking up in a flat and I'm starting all over again in the
05:10 morning but you've got to realize as well it's not just people who buy in
05:13 bulk you could walk down any local street in my area and in any other area
05:18 and people will just take your hand off for whatever you got people love a
05:22 bargain it costs too much in the shops these days and you can sell anything
05:26 from cheese to meat to washing up detergents anything people really love a
05:33 bargain so selling it wasn't the problem either but that was a typical day if
05:37 there was anything I could say to anyone struggling with drug addiction it would
05:42 be that it's never too late to change and I know that's very cliche and easy
05:46 to say coming from someone who is on the other side but I never ever thought I'd
05:51 be on this side and you've got a criminal record that's thicker than the
05:55 yellow pages and it's all for the same thing shoplifting shoplifting shoplifting
06:00 you never think there's any anything more to your life but the fact of the
06:03 matter is there is an opportunity there for you services and people in the drug
06:09 sector are looking for people with lived experience more than ever so yeah it's
06:13 never too late and do you really want to be nicking meat and Cathedral City for
06:18 the rest of your life going in and out of prison for it I know it's easy money
06:22 but it's really, really not the way to live.
06:24 So that's what I would say.