Another online video appears to show a group of thieves brazenly robbing a Winnipeg liquor store.
The latest video shared on Facebook shows what appears to be a group of teenagers stealing large amounts of alcohol from the Fort Richmond Liquor Mart off of Pembina Highway.
“I didn’t know what to think, I was in shock,” said Tina McKay, a Thompson resident who shot the video while in Winnipeg over the weekend.
“They were probably in and out within 50 seconds if not less. I was really surprised that nobody did anything,” she added.
“They ran right past us, they didn’t care that we were recording, it was very fast and crazy.
“I was just happy there was no violence or anything like that.”
It’s not the first time video of alleged liquor thieves has made the rounds on social media.
Last month five teens were arrested after a group of suspects swarmed the Tyndall Liquor Mart on Keewatin Avenue — filling bags with hundreds of dollars worth of liquor — in a chaotic scene that was also caught on video.
While neither the Winnipeg Police Service nor Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries would comment on the latest video, a MLL spokesperson called the rate and severity of thefts concerning last month.
“Like all Winnipeggers, we are shocked to see brazen acts of theft occurring so openly all over the city,” she said at the time, telling Global News the crown corporation was “exploring every option” to stop the thefts, which have been an ongoing problem in Winnipeg.
Numbers from Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries show incidents of theft rose more than 300 per cent in 2018 from 2017, jumping from 658 thefts in Liquor Marts to more than 2,600 in 2018.
Criminal Defense Lawyer Josh Rogala says crown prosecutors usually come down hard on booze thieves.
“For certain kind of offences like this there’s obviously going to be a lot forethought put into them because most offenders know that staff are not going to stop them,” says Rogala.
He said it’s rare to see an offender come before the court with only one offence.
“When offenders do appear before the court they’re frequently being charged with multiple counts of thefts from liquor commissions from separate dates.”