A pair of individuals have been hit with multiple theft charges following a police crackdown on shoplifters operating in east Newport.

Neighbourhood officers carried out the arrests on Tuesday, 11 August, as part of a concerted campaign against retail crime in the district.

One suspect, Sam Mulligan, aged 36 and with no fixed abode, was taken into custody after allegedly taking two packets of bacon from a retail outlet on Caerleon Road.

A police officer who happened to be in the shop at the moment gave pursuit and caught him on Junction Road.

Mulligan now faces four counts of theft from a shop.

The second individual, Calum Edwards, also 36, from Fairoak Avenue in Newport, was apprehended on Christchurch Road and faces 11 counts of shop theft plus a violation of a Criminal Behaviour Order.

Both accused are being held by police and are scheduled to appear at Newport Magistrates’ Court.