Man jailed for stealing alcohol worth around £16,000 from Norfolk and Suffolk
Alexandru Cercel, 39, formerly of Homestead Road, Dagenham help steal from stores in Ipswich, Beccles, Great Yarmouth, Norwich and Diss
A man has been jailed for his part in an organised shoplifting gang that stole- that alcohol worth around £16,000 from Norfolk and Suffolk
Alexandru Cercel, 39, formerly of Homestead Road, Dagenham help steal from stores in Ipswich, Beccles, Great Yarmouth, Norwich and Diss between October 2021 and June 2023.
Alcohol worth up to £3000 was stolen in each raid, with the gang sometimes returning to the same store up to five times on the same day to empty its shelves.
Cercel was arrested at Dover docks trying to leave the country as a wanted man on 1 July 2023.
Whilst on remand and in a bid to “clear his slate” Cercel engaged with the Norfolk and Suffolk Operation Converter TIC Units who were able to present him with evidence of 26 further crimes which he also admitted to.
Cercel appeared at Canterbury Crown Court last Friday for sentencing- where the scale of these thefts were described as “industrial”.
In jailing him for two years the judge said the thefts were likely motivated to fund other criminal enterprise and that the method used indicated “highly organised and planned offending.”
The court gave him some credit for admitting to the TIC offences which showed some genuine remorse and saved the various police forces a great deal of investigation time, it was said.
"We welcome this sentence"
Duncan Etchells, supervisor of the Norfolk Operation Converter TIC Unit said:
“We will always do all we can to bring serious organised criminals such as Cercel to justice.
"By investigating him as we did, a large number of high value retail thefts were put before the court and we welcome this sentence as retail crime on this scale impacts all the customers of the affected stores”.