Mansour Kadissi steals thousands worth of Cadbury from Coles

An Epping man has been busted stealing chocolate and top-shelf tuna as part of a scam to stock up smaller grocery stores and line his pockets.

A man has been stealing thousands of dollars of chocolate and canned tuna from Coles stores then peddling the stolen loot to smaller grocery stores, a court has heard.

Mansour Kadissi, 42, fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday, January 18, pleading guilty to multiple charges including theft and committing an indictable offence while on bail.

The court heard Kadissi stole at least $7408 worth of goods from Coles stores in Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs from November 2019 to October 2020 and tried to steal at least $10,456 more.

Kadissi predominantly stole confectionery, specifically Cadbury chocolate, as well as Sirena canned tuna, but also nabbed some health and beauty products.

Lawyer Simon English told the court his client was fencing the stolen items to local supermarkets and grocery stores.

“What he was reaping out of the criminality was about a third of the value of the items that have been stolen,” Mr English said.

Magistrate Kimberley Swadesir appeared shocked to hear other stores had been buying the chocolate and tuna.

“I didn’t think regular stores that operate ordinarily in accordance with the law would purchase them,” Ms Swadesir said.

Mr English said some of his previous clients had claimed they had been doing similar onselling, with the businesses almost putting orders in of what items they were after.

The court heard when Kadissi stole $1245 of Cadbury chocolate from Coles Point Cook on October 6 CCTV footage showed him looking and referring to a shopping list which police believed details the items he planned to steal.

The Epping man targeted 20 different Coles stores, from Mill Park across to Williamstown, stealing the items by placing them in opaque bags in his trolley and wheeling them out of the stores.

On the occasions his thefts were foiled Kadissi was unable to wheel the trolleys out without being noticed after filling them with the goods.

He also stole $1053 of baby formula from Thomastown’s Baby Bunting in April 2018 using a similar tactic.

The court heard Kadissi was a long-term heroin addict who was unemployed and committed some of the crimes while on bail and a community corrections order.

He appeared before the court having already spent 102 days in jail since he was arrested on October 8 when police found him unloading 17 shopping bags out of his car.

Kadissi will return to court for sentencing next month.