A woman has been charged after she allegedly tried to shoplift items from a West Auckland store and attempted to disguise herself in clothing she had not paid for.
Police were called to a Henderson sports store at around 3pm on Thursday after staff confronted a woman allegedly trying to conceal nearly $200 of baseball caps.
"The woman stormed off after abusing the staff, and attempted to enter more stores in the area, whose staff noticed her unusual behaviour and challenged her," Sergeant Rachel England said.
"At another store, she allegedly attempted to avoid detection by changing into an outfit from the shelves, and also repositioned barcodes on two items to make it appear they were much cheaper items."
Officers tracked the woman to the story where they arrested her as she tried to leave.
When police searched the woman, England said they found more items she had not paid for along with utensils for using methamphetamine.
"Retail theft isn’t a victimless crime, and we want to thank the retailers who called us so promptly."
A 47-year-old woman was due to appear in the Waitakere District Court on January 14 charged with theft, obtains by deception, and possession of utensils for meth.
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