When Doris Bonett picked up a crying baby from a carrycot, she was shocked to find tubes of hair gel hidden in the soft blanket.
Ms Bonett, one of the owners of Birkirkara's Smart Supermarket, said: "No wonder she was crying with those tubes poking her in the back."
The little girl's mother had been taken into Ms Bonett's office after more tubes of gel, costing €3.84 each, were found hidden in her handbag during a search by one of the supermarket's cashiers. She had tried to steal 30 in all.
It was not the first time a mother had used her baby's cot to hide supermarket items. "One woman even hid frozen chicken pieces under her child," Ms Bonett added.
Despite having 48 CCTV cameras installed, the supermarket has been suffering a spate of thefts, prompting owners to introduce a policy of checking each and every handbag brought into the shop. Signs informing people their personal bags would be searched can be seen everywhere.
It was fish that first raised the alarm. Every transaction from the fishmonger is recorded but at the end of the day the numbers did not tally with those of the cashiers.
"We were finding around four missing transactions, averaging €30 each, every day," she said.
After scrutinising the day's CCTV recordings, the supermarket management identified the culprits.
"We saw women hiding raw fish in their handbags," Ms Bonett said.
Last Monday, a couple was found hiding €74 worth of toiletries, including shampoos, deodorant, shaving foam and sunscreen, in a big, white bag. An elderly lady tried to escape with a piece of cheddar cheese while another had two marrows hidden in her handbag.
But it is not only the small items that have gone missing. Hairdryer boxes have been found empty, their contents taken, while a person was caught trying to steal a blender.
Some shoplifters go to extremes to steal, even putting two tubes of toothpaste in a single box so that they only paid for one. There was even a modern-day Robin Hood who admitted to having stolen some bars of chocolate "for Dar tal-Providenza". A woman who was caught with frozen salmon in her bag claimed she had brought it with her.
Chocolate wrappers are regularly found scattered around the supermarket, discarded after their contents have been eaten. Some people take pastries from the bakery and eat them before getting to the cashier.
In the UK, the recession has seen a wave in crime, with petty theft up by 25 per cent and shoplifting up by 10 per cent. However, Ms Bonett could not say whether theft has increased since the policy of checking bags was only introduced two weeks ago.
She said the fact that people were recently pushed to take their own bags, after the eco tax on plastic bags was introduced, made it easier for clients to walk off with stolen goods.
The supermarket's policy has not been welcomed by everyone. Some refuse to submit to the check, even when it is pointed out that they were informed before entering the supermarket.
But Joanne Azzopardi, a shopper from Siġġiewi, said the supermarket was probably left with no other option but to search bags, adding people brought this on themselves.
The shop did not have lockers where customers unwilling to show the contents of their bags could leave them safely. Asked about this, Ms Bonett said these would be introduced if customers indicated they would prefer such a system, but there were still no plans to do so.