Police warn businesses as spate of highly organised thefts of cigarettes occur across Suffolk

Police have said there has been a recent spate of businesses being broken into and targeted for theft of cigarettes, with some of these thefts being highly organised.

Suffolk Police have recommended that if you have an alarm installed it is regularly serviced to ensure it is in working order and set during closing hours, check that CCTV equipment is in good working order and can be readily available to download if required for police evidence.

They have also said to report all suspicious activity to police at the time and ask residents living close to your premises to report any suspicious activity.

Police recommend that cigarettes are secured behind an appropriate and well fitted shutter and that in addition to an alarm system and CCTV for retailers to consider, where appropriate, to use fogging devices such as smoke cloak or DNA marking sprays such as Selecta DNA or Smartwater.

These systems will disorientate an offender and render the attack useless and DNA sprays can link an offender to the location of an offence and provide vital evidence for court convictions.

Excess stock should be secured out of sight and in an additional secure location.

For further advice look at the First Principles guidance notes for small business which can be found here where you can also find links for guidance on CCTV and Alarm Systems.