Co-op marking commonly-stolen items with forensic spray to track reselling

Wave of measures has helped cut offending in stores by a fifth last year as new retail crime law comes into force

Co-op is secretly marking commonly-stolen items including alcohol and laundry detergents with invisible “forensic spray” to track them, in the latest crackdown on shoplifting as a new law on retail crime kicks in.

The grocer is to use the technique, which helps the retailer to identify where stolen items are being resold and report them to the police, across the country after testing it in Manchester and London since last year.