It comes after an officer from Redbridge Council’s CCTV Team overheard a distress call from JD Sports regarding a large group of people shoplifting.
The group was engaging in gang steaming, which is where a group of criminals enter a store, threaten staff and steal high-value items.
Live monitoring of CCTV cameras revealed that a member of staff was restraining one of the individuals whilst the remaining for members were acting aggressively.
Cameras were redirected to cover possible escape routes, with the CCTV Team providing live footage and descriptions of the suspects were provided to the Metropolitan Police.
The police force dispatched officers to the scene and were alerted to new updates with the group attacking store staff and kicking shutters.
The suspects allegedly fled the scene but five were apprehended by police using the real-time CCTV updates.
Two of the suspects were tracked to a restaurant in Barkingside, another two were found on a local bus route, and the remaining suspect was stopped in Ilford High Road.
Supt Clare McCarthy said: “The joint response to this incident is an excellent example of our great community safety partnership with the local council.
“The Council’s CCTV Team played a vital role in providing real-time intelligence to our police officers on the ground, who then managed to track and arrest the suspects.
“Without the quick thinking of the CCTV Team and the fast response time of our officers, this gang could have fled the scene and targeted other retail premises in Ilford.
“I sincerely hope these arrests send a clear and unequivocal message to criminals who think they can commit crimes in our town centres with impunity: We will find them, arrest them, and put them before the courts.”
The suspects have been bailed pending return in connection to the incident.
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Cllr Khayer Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety, said: “We want people to feel safe in our borough. That’s why we’ve continued to invest in measures to make it a safer place, including our extensive CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera network.
“I’m pleased that the work and swift response of our CCTV Team and local police officers recently led to the arrest of a group of violent individuals in one of our town centres.
“We want residents and visitors to feel safe in our borough, and we will continue to work closely with our partners in the police to tackle those who commit crime and antisocial behaviour in our communities.”
