A highly organized multimillion-dollar shoplifting ring has been smashed after a 14-month investigation, Jersey City Police Department leaders announced a new conference Thursday afternoon.

Deputy Police Chief Mark Miller said that 11 people were arrested, including two of the ring’s leaders, in the JCPD Special Investigations Unit’s Operation Bag and Boost. A dozen more have been charged but are not yet in custody.

Police recovered $3 million in stolen goods -- all from chain-store pharmacies and a beauty supplies store -- and froze $4.5 million from two bank accounts, Miller said.

Miller said the stolen items were placed on the popular auction online auction website eBay and shipped to unwitting purchasers.

Stephan Williams, of Jersey City, was charged as the ringleader, while Arsen Murtov, of Long Island, New York, was charged as a high-ranking member of the group that victimed stores in seven New Jersey counties, Queens, Nassau County and Suffolk County in New York and Connecticut, Miller said.

Others arrested are Stephone Jordan, Gregory Lee, Chadra Adhar, Sasha Taveras, Zaria Pittman, Brian Ward, Marc Manno, Michael Roylance and Dalia Dellavale. Williams was charged with being the leader of the theft ring and other charges, while the others face multiple counts of theft and other offenses.

Miller said the ring was highly organized, with clearly defined roles.

Shoplifters were recruited by the leaders of the group and they were driven to specified targets — CVS, Duane Reade, Rite-Aid and Ulta Beauty — where they shoplifted specific items. The shoplifters would then be driven back to a home on Bidwell Avenue in Jersey City and paid for their services.

Miller said one shoplifter told police he was paid $675 for one’s night’s work.

The group had “workers" at the Bidwell Avenue building organize the goods and list them on eBay. Once sold, other members packaged and shipped the goods to unsuspecting buyers, Miller said.

The investigation started when Bayonne police noticed a pattern of arrests in which the suspect told them they were given a “catalog” and paid to steal certain items. Jersey City police, who worked with Bayonne police, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and Norfork Southern Railway, then initiated the probe.

On March 21 police executed three search warrants in Jersey City and another in West Babylon, New York. and made the 11 arrests. Police did not release the names of the 12 people being sought.