Alexandru Cercel, aged 39, formerly of Homestead Road, Dagenham, and his accomplices targeted stores including, Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, and Sainsbury’s between October 2021 and June 2023.

Alcohol worth up to £3000 was stolen in each raid, the gang sometimes returning to the same store up to five times on the same day to empty its shelves.

Cercel was arrested at Dover docks trying to leave the country as a wanted man on 1 July 2023.

Further investigations revealed the gang had travelled between Cambridge, Ipswich, Basildon, Beccles, Great Yarmouth, Norwich, Diss, Canvey Island, and Hertford to carry out the thefts.

Whilst on remand and in a bid to “clear his slate” Cercel engaged with the Norfolk and Suffolk Operation Converter TIC Units who were able to present him with evidence of 26 further crimes which he also admitted to.

Of those, nine offences were committed in Norfolk, and seven in Suffolk – accounting for stolen alcohol worth around £16,000.

Cercel appeared before Canterbury Crown Court on Friday 17 November 2023 for sentencing.

He admitted to eight counts of stealing alcohol from Tesco stores in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Kent, and Hertfordshire between 4 October 2021 and 13 June 2023.

He also asked for the 26 other thefts to be taken into consideration.

At his sentencing the scale of the operation was described as “industrial”.

In jailing him for two years the judge said the thefts were likely motivated to fund other criminal enterprise and that the method used indicated “highly organised and planned offending.”

The court gave him some credit for admitting to the TIC offences which showed some genuine remorse and saved the various police forces a great deal of investigation time, it was said.