Shoplifters are getting creative, the latest gadget in their disposal being a special bag that bypasses shops’ anti-theft scanners, police warned on Saturday as they published the photographs of suspects in three separate cases in Nicosia and Larnaca.

According to the police report, the first case of shoplifting was reported on Thursday by a clothing store manager in Nicosia, after she noticed it happening on CCTV footage from the previous day.

The footage showed some people stealing clothing and placing it in a specific bag.

She said that the stolen merchandise, which included women’s and children’s clothing, was worth around €7,000.

On Friday, a manager at a different shop reported that clothing worth around 4,000 had been stolen between the 20th and 21st of May.

Reviewing CCTV footage revealed that the perpetrators placed the clothing in a black and white bag and exited the shop without activating the anti-theft alarm.

Later in the day, the security manager of a shopping centre in Larnaca told police that security guards intercepted a man who was using a bag similar to the one used in the other robberies.

The man reportedly fled the scene, leaving the bag behind. Inside were €330 worth of clothing that were thought to have been stolen from one of the shops.

The bag was handed over to police, and checks showed that it had been specially modified to bypass security systems on exiting a shop.

Police published screenshots of the CCTV footage showing the suspects, and called on anyone with further information to call Larnaca CID at 24804060, their closest police station, or 1460.