Seven arrested over suspected shoplifting campaign

Six women and a man have been arrested on suspicion of planning to steal from high-value stores and supermarkets in a "national coordinated plan", police have said.

It follows a campaign by Take Back Power, which calls itself "a nonviolent civil-resistance group" and revealed in March its supporters "left the shops without paying" after taking items which they said they then gave to food banks.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP), in collaboration with London's Metropolitan Police, detained the group on Sunday on suspicion of conspiracy to steal.

GMP said it believed they were intending to take goods from high-value stores and major supermarkets across the country and "redistribute them elsewhere".

Take Back Power has previously stated it was setting up groups across England who would be "taking back essential items and groceries from stores owned by corporations and billionaires, and helping to give back these necessities to the local communities who need support the most".

GMP Assistant Chief Constable Steph Parke said "organised criminality" would not be tolerated.

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