VPD recovers $100,000 in alcohol stolen from Liquor Distribution Branch warehouse

A long-time B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) employee has been suspended as Vancouver police investigate the theft of at least $100,000 in alcohol from the company’s Vancouver distribution centre.

Vancouver police said it was contacted about an internal-theft investigation in mid-April.

“Detectives from our Property Crime Unit worked with the LDB to collect evidence that led to the execution of a search warrant at a Delta home on May 15 where over $100,000 in alcohol was recovered,” the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) said in a news release.

“Three people, two from Surrey and one from Delta, were arrested in relation to the theft. They were released pending further investigation.”

One of the suspects is a LDB employee and according to company spokesperson Viviana Zanocco, the male employee worked in the distribution centre.

Zanocco said the LDB’s corporate loss prevention team noticed an anomaly, bringing this incident to the company’s attention.

“The team was made aware of a discrepancy, investigated, looped in Vancouver police last month and their joint investigation led to the arrest of the employee on May 14,” Zanocco said in an email to Global News.

“He has not been charged with anything so he remains suspended.”

The Liquor Distribution Branch doesn’t measure figures on theft, Zanocco said, but it does have data on shrinkage, defined as the loss of inventory from factors including employee theft, shoplifting, administrative error, damage during transport and vendor fraud.

According to a U.S. based survey, the 2017 National Retail Security Survey, the average shrinkage rate is about 1.44 per cent of retailer’s sales, Zanocco said.

“In fiscal year 2017/2018, on sales of $2.418-billion, the LDB recorded shrinkage of about $1.637 million, or 0.07 per cent of total sales.”​