Royal Mile ‘lawless’ with smash-and-grab thieves caught on CCTV

Galab Singh Gold, who owns dozens of shops on and around the Royal Mile, told BBC News he had lost £15,000 worth of stock to theft in the last three months.

He also faces the cost of replacing smashed windows – with a bill for one incident costing £3,000.

He said he had hours of CCTV footage showing how “brazen” thieves had become, “kicking in windows” in front of passers-by.

The 47-year-old said it was the worst he had ever seen in the 35 years his family had been running shops on the famous mile.

He believes gangs are involved as he has noticed the same people stealing high-end items on various occasions.

“Someone is either ordering these bags or they know people that are buying them so they know it will be easy to get rid of the bags,” he said.

“The police say they don’t have the resources to tackle something like this but it’s not just petty crime any more – this is organised theft.”