Security tags have been slapped on packs of condom in Asda to deter randy Brits from shoplifting the contraceptives.
Condoms are the latest products to have an anti-theft device slapped on them as the nation finds itself in the grips of a shoplifting epidemic.
The yellow alarm patches, which bizarrely states ‘security protected, remove before microwaving’, have been spotted on the contraception across several Asda supermarkets.
A supermarket worker at an Asda branch in Lewisham, south east London, told The Sun: ‘These measures are now necessary because of how much shoplifting is going on.
‘Part of it is the prices have gone up by a lot.
‘All birth control has got far more expensive and that makes it more of a target for shoplifters.’
In April, it was reported that shoplifting has risen to the highest level on record. A total of 430,104 offences were recorded by police in the year to December 2023, up by more than a third (37 per cent) from 315,040 in the previous 12 months.
The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
To tackle the continued crisis, shops are having to use more and more elaborate anti-theft devices to deter would-be thieves.
Tesco has began putting chocolate bars in security boxes to prevent people from stealing them. The boxes have stickers on them saying ‘Ask the staff’.
Customers cannot just take a bar off the shelves, supermarket workers have to get one for them. The Co-op have also slapped similar devices on their chocolate bars.
Meanwhile, some Tesco stores have started using hi-tech gadgets to protect booze from shoplifters.
The technology works by asking shoppers to use a digital touchscreen and complete a ‘four-step process’ to open the cabinets, which contain premium spirits.
Believed to be called the Freedom Case, the anti-thieving gadgetry has the ability to track when items have been removed, how often the cabinet has been opened and for how long.
It can also send alerts to staff if ‘suspicious behaviour’ is detected.
The process is similar to a glorified doorbell, where shoppers touch a screen, which is answered by security and the cabinet opens.
Greggs earlier this year announced that staff would begin wearing body cameras in their busiest stores following a concerning rise in sausage roll theft.
have approached Asda for a comment.