Shoplifters have developed taste for tenderloin in Helsinki

Shopkeepers believe stolen meat is being traded on

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By Jorma Erkkilä
     
      Helsinki resident Pertti Korpinen happened to notice two young men in an Alepa store in Helsinki’s Ullanlinna on New Year’s Eve.
      The men had loaded their shopping basket full of the most expensive tenderloin fillet of beef, and Korpinen made the calculation that the young men were going to have one hell of a party if they bought that quantity of meat.
      On a hunch, he stayed to watch how things developed, and shortly afterwards he spotted the same men emerging from behind shelves carrying only a lightly-filled basket with a few minor items in it. Instead, one of the men carried over his shoulder a large bag which appeared to be crammed full.
     
The man with the bag walked past the checkout counter while the other one paid for the relatively insignificant items in the basket.
      Korpinen asked the men where the large amount of meat was which they had recently had in their basket.
      The cashier then asked whether the other man wished to open his bag. He said he did not and walked out of the shop.
      Korpinen followed the man, who started to run.
      Eventually the man dropped the bag, and Korpinen took it back to the store.
      According to the shop manager it was full of meat and cheese, worth more than EUR 100, Korpinen reported.
     
Manager Merja Saari from HOK-Elanto admits that shoplifting incidents occur frequently, even though some preventive measures are being taken.
      ”We have surveillance cameras and guards in all Alepa outlets”, Saari reports.
      Shop manager Tapani Timonen from a Siwa outlet in Southern Helsinki says that beef fillet is stolen nearly every day. Expensive cold cuts and minced meat are also good enough for thieves, and so are bottles of beer and cider.
      ”Gangs circulating in the area are a major nuisance for us. They frequently come in and always try to steal something. There must be a market for stolen goods. It would be interesting to know where they sell it on”, says Timonen.
      ”These days we have good security equipment and guards, which we hope would cut the number of crimes. In addition, we notify the police of all shoplifting incidents”, Timonen says.
     
Thefts occur on a daily basis, says Kai Pekola, the shopkeeper of the K-market Ruokapysäkki in Sörnäinen. The shop sells the most expensive meat qualities only to order.
      ”It makes sense. Our clientele comprises mainly students and office workers, who do not often buy tenderloin or filet mignon”, says Pekola.
      The most sought-after articles stolen at his store include expensive razor blades.
      ”Typically, the overall loss caused by shoplifting is about 1-1.5 % of total sales, but when it comes to razor blades, the pilferage ratio can be as high as 70%. The upshot is that not many shops keep them in open shelves any more”, Pekola concludes.
      This paper reported a spate of thefts of razor blades in Turku some months ago (see linked article), and the implication is that it was hardly a one-off phenomenon.
      In the Prisma outlet in Helsinki’s Kannelmäki district the number of shoplifting incidents has been decreased with the help of intense surveillance, says shop manager Kaj Grahn.
      According to Grahn, beef tenderloin attracts thieves as it is expensive and relatively easy to sell forward, for instance to restaurants or clubs.
      ”I do not know who buys such meat, but we strongly suspect that the stolen meat will be sold forward”, Grahn concludes.
     
In Sweden, the stealing of expensive cuts of meat has been a problem for several years.
      According to Svensk Handel (the Federation of Swedish Commerce), several tons of meat are swiped from shops every year.
      The Federation has been forced to hire private detectives to investigate such thefts.
      Shopkeeper Jonas Berg from Södertälje reported to Helsingin Sanomat in May 2007 that there are two types of thieves: narcotics addicts who need money for their drugs and professional thieves who sell the stolen meat on, possibly stealing to order.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 3.1.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Romanian razor blade thieves arrested in Turku (26.2.2008)
  Finnish figures for losses caused by shoplifting among highest in Europe (26.10.2007)

JORMA ERKKILÄ / Helsingin Sanomat
jorma.erkkila@hs.fi