West Lothian shopkeeper hunting thieves who cost him £20,000 a year after police 'do nothing'
A West Lothian shopkeeper has released CCTV of shoplifters he says costs his small business £20,000 per year after slamming police for failing to investigate.
Mohammed Bilal, 39, says he has taken drastic action online after losing faith in the authorities - and says the increase is devastating for his business and potentially endangering his staff.
One CCTV clip shows a woman stuffing multiple bottles of wine in her handbag, while another shows a woman attempting to steal a bottle before smashing it on the ground.
Mohammed, who owns the Londis store in Bathgate, says the thieves have also resorted to vandalism, as he claims his shop doors and windows have been smashed on multiple occasions.
He said: "It happens almost every other day - they just enter and grab things and run away. Sometimes when you try and stop them, they break things - they've tried to damage the shelves and damage the door. That costs us extra money.
"They are stealing food, drinks, alcohol - whatever they can get. A whole shelf got emptied by one guy who put everything into the bag and ran away."
Muhammed says he has reported multiple incidents to the police, but has begun to lose faith after a lack of response from authorities. He claims the business loses between £50 to £100 per day dealing with stock losses and damages caused by thieves.
"We reported to the police, and at the end of the day, we never got anything back from them," he said.
"Sometimes you ask what's the point to waste the time and chase the stuff. We never recover anything."
Muhammed says he understands that the cost of living is causing people to struggle, but says his family is also affected.
"I don't know why it's happening more - it could be that things are getting expensive," he said.
"We try to keep good prices. It's a challenging time for us as a retailer. The loss of money - we don't want to put extra stock on a shelf in case someone comes in to shoplift."
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He has begun sharing CCTV footage of shoplifters online in the hopes of identifying repeat offenders in the community.
Muhammed hopes that responses online and from the local authorities will help to stop the attacks on the shop, as he fears for the safety of his staff.
"I share the pictures because they might be kids and their guardian or someone they know can actually stop them," said Muhammed.
"It's dangerous to take things from the people doing the shoplifting - they can hurt the staff members and that's a safety concern. Their safety is very important."
Police Scotland has been contacted for comment.