UK police arrest seven over nationwide plan to shoplift from high-end stores

British police said they had arrested seven people on Sunday over what they said was a national coordinated plan by activists who want to tax the super rich to damage and steal from high-end stores.

The seven individuals were detained in Salford in northwest England on suspicion of conspiracy to steal, Greater Manchester Police said.

Police said the group were believed to have been training for non-direct action as part of a mass shoplifting campaign, intending to steal from high-value retail stores and supermarkets to redistribute the stolen items.

"We are taking robust action to disrupt this type of organised criminality, and it will not be tolerated," Assistant Chief Constable Steph Parker said in a statement.

Take Back Power, which describes itself as a civil resistance group demanding a tax on extreme wealth, said its supporters had been arrested.

"The police are arresting people at generic training sessions that simply teach the history and principles of staying non-violent," a spokesperson said in a statement.

London police said in March that they had arrested 15 people from Take Back Power over alleged plans for mass shoplifting.

Nine members of that group were charged on Sunday with offences involving stunts at the Ritz Hotel in Central London last December, when manure was poured on the floor, and after another incident that month at the Tower of London.