Romanian razor blade thieves arrested in Turku

Police find 800 packs of razor blades in house search; stores moving blades to locked cabinets

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The security guards at a K-Citymarket department store in Turku noticed last Friday that two men were collecting stacks of the most expensive razor blade packs from the shelves of the store, putting them into their shopping baskets.
      When the men noticed that the guards were observing them they put the blades back.
      Nevertheless, the 36-year-old men of Romanian origin were arrested for questioning. They had attempted to steal a large number of the most expensive razor blades worth around EUR 900.
     
The Turku Police Department was aware of a similar indicent that had occurred in a Prisma department store on Tampereentie in Turku a week ago. That time the shoplifters tried to steal a number of expensive razor blades worth EUR 500.
      Moreover, the Citymarket guards also knew that similar razor blades had been stolen from stores in Salo.
     
While conducting a house search in a hostel where the two Romanian men had rented a lodging for a couple of weeks, the police found a total of around 800 razor blade packs which had been packed in large sports bags. Each pack contains several razor blades.
      The police packed the razor blade packs into three large refuse sacks, which were confiscated.
      The police believe that the stolen razor blades are usually taken to the men’s own home country and possibly to the neighbouring countries, where they will be sold.
     
Apparently, the men had come to Finland straight from Romania. Upon their arrival, the Romanians had bought a second-hand car. Moreover, they had already bought tickets for a ferry to Sweden at the weekend.
      "The police had been notified of this kind of individual shoplifting incidents even in smaller local shops in Southwestern Finland in the course of the autumn, but this is the first time that such a large amount of stolen razor blades were picked up", reports sergeant Markku Autio from the Turku Criminal Police.
      Among the stolen goods were also minor amounts of clothes and cosmetics.
      The Romanian men are being held in police custody.
     
Many department stores have noticed that razor blades have gone missing. In Helsinki they have been placed in glass cabinets closed by a lock or near the cashiers.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki sends beggar mothers back to Romania on child welfare grounds (11.2.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat