Assorted chocolates, packs of AA batteries, half a ham and several cartons of almond milk were among the more than $1700 worth of groceries a woman allegedly stole from a Hamilton supermarket this morning.
Members of the Hamilton Retail Crime team were conducting inquiries at a business when a call came at 10.30am about a shoplifting incident at Woolworths Te Rapa.
Staff had been verbally abused when they tried to prevent a woman from allegedly stealing a large trolley of groceries.
The offender had already taken off in her vehicle with the allegedly stolen groceries by the time police arrived at the scene, a police spokesperson said.
"With details from the public, the team used local knowledge and gut instinct to head to a Pukete address where they found a vehicle parked at an address still full of the stolen groceries."
The woman was found in the house and arrested, with the groceries returned to a "very grateful team", the spokesperson added.
A 29-year-old woman was due to appear in court in early January charged with shoplifting.
SHARE ME