Homeland Security investigations say there's a national trend linking shoplifting to terrorist organizations and international organized crime rings.

The stores are in Central Ohio are twinkling with holiday sparkle, but behind the scenes, Reynoldsburg and Pickerington police teamed up to pick off suspected shoplifters. This undercover operation dug deeper than sticky fingers.

"We're trying to get the bigger fish while getting the little fish," one undercover officer said.

Police joined forces with Homeland Security Investigations. The agency said across the country, agents are seeing a trend linking shoplifting to terrorist organizations.

"A lot of the organizations that we're looking at internationally right now are delving into retail theft because it's an easy way to make money, 100-percent profit, and they're able to funnel the money out without detection," said Resident Agent In Charge Nathan Emery.

Federal agents say shoplifting may not seem like a serious crime, but they say there's a reason organized criminal enterprise is shifting towards retail theft.

Agents say crimes like drug and human trafficking incite violence and demand attention from law enforcement.

But shoplifting? Agents say as international criminal investigations go, shoplifting hasn't exactly commanded anyone's attention until now.

"And we've seen that these organizations are smart and they want to go out and do something that's going to lay under the radar, make a quick buck, send the money out of the country undetected," said Emery.

Federal agents are paying attention now. A recent retail theft bust in Lancaster, just south of Columbus, led to the arrests of Jorge Sanches Silva and Miguel Martinez Hernandes.

HSI tells CrimeTracker 10 it's investigating whether the suspects have ties to the Mexican drug cartel.

HSI says shoplifting suspects arrested in central Ohio have also been linked to three separate international identity theft rings with ties to Nigeria, Ghana, and Cuba.

Investigators say it recovered hundreds of stolen credit cards from all three criminal organizations.

Agents say shoplifting may seem like a petty crime, but investigators say one retailer told them it's big business.

"And it's to the tune of a few million dollars just here in Columbus that they're losing annually to these type of thefts," said Emery.