POLICE in Newport are warning would-be thieves: There are no shop-lifting days left before Christmas.

The force crackdown on seasonal shoplifting - Operation Tinsel - is now entering its third year.

And the 2001 initiative is being headed by Inspector Eddie Mayne, who runs a Christmas crime team operating in uniform and undercover in Newport town centre.

He said: "We're actually trebling the number of officers working in the town centre. "We have had a lot of success in the past - we collected stolen property to the value of £10,000 last year, and made 110 arrests."

With more than £10,000 worth of designer clothes recovered from a Duffryn address recently, shoplifting in Gwent is obviously a big business.

Inspector Mayne said: "There's obviously an increase in thefts around Christmas because in a lot of cases these criminals are working almost to order.

"The most prolific shoplifters do have target lists of the stuff they want. They're purely stealing to sell and raise money to buy drugs.

"We use officers who know the local criminal community, and that will be very useful, but shoplifters travel to Newport from the Valleys, or from Cardiff, Bristol and Swansea because they're too well-known in their own towns.

"We exchange information with other forces and they provide us with names and descriptions of criminals who travel."

The Yuletide taskforce covers all the town centre's shopping hours, including late nights and Sundays.

Operation Tinsel's officers are linked by radio to the shops' own security, so criminals can be followed from shop to shop.

But not all Newport's retailers take crime seriously enough, according to Inspector Mayne.

He said: "Some of the major stores can be a bit blas about crime prevention. "We have asked for their support in trying to deter criminals, and suggested measures that don't cost anything, but unfortunately not all the retailers take our advice.

"Overall, however, we've got everything in place to do better than we ever have before. "I want to warn shoplifters and criminals to stay out of Newport this Christmas - we're ready for you."

The president of Newport Chamber of Trade, Eve Williams, said: "I would urge all local shopkeepers in the town to please be extra-vigilant during the Christmas period. "Times are hard and they should accept as much free advice as is given to them."