Thirty-two suspects, including four youth, were arrested in Richmond last week as part of a large scale police operation targeting retail outlets.

The Richmond RCMP Prolific Offender Suppression Team (POST) joined forces with officers from the Property Crime Unit to hone in on the city’s main shopping hubs.

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They worked alongside security staff from Richmond Centre, Lansdowne Centre, Toys R Us, London Drugs, TJX Canada, Overwaitea Food Group, Superstore, Apple Store, The Bay, Shoppers Drug Mart and Walmart.

The most popular items that were stolen were meat, liquor, candy and clothing.

From June 19 to 20, multiple arrests were made due to the combined efforts by police and loss prevention officers.

In total:

• 32 suspects were arrested;

• Four suspects were youths;

• Nine suspects had no permanent residence or were of no fixed address;

• Most suspects were from outside of Richmond;

• Some suspects had pre-existing outstanding warrants from jurisdictions outside Richmond;

• Some suspects had previous conditions from prior arrests.

“Almost two thirds of those arrested in this operation weren’t from Richmond,” said Sgt. Simon Lee, of the Richmond RCMP Property Crime Unit.

“A large majority of the suspects were well-known to police. One was apprehended twice on the same day for theft.

“Another suspect that we arrested was identified from a previous retail theft operation we conducted.

“If you are a criminal and you come to Richmond for the sole purpose of committing a crime, we will catch you.”