FOUR men have been arrested and a large quantity of alcohol and food seized after a member of the public alerted police to suspicious activity at a Chippenham supermarket on Monday.

A group of people were spotted putting bottles of alcohol, still with the tags on, into a car outside Sainsbury's in Bath Road. Officers tracked the car and stopped it on the A350 outside Asda in Melksham, at around 6.50pm.

Four men, aged 18, 21, 22 and 24, all from the London area, were arrested on suspicion of theft and taken to Melksham Police Station. Alcohol, food and tools, including de-taggers, were taken from the car.

Sergeant Louis McCoy, from Wiltshire North community policing team, said: "This is a great example of a member of the public spotting something which did not seem right, calling police and us taking swift action to make these arrests.

"It is also good teamwork by our CPTs and Tri-Force officers, who worked well together to respond quickly and effectively.

"Thanks to the public-spirited actions of this one person, we have made four arrests and seized a quantity of what we suspect to be stolen goods."

We would always urge people to call police on 101, or 999 if a crime is in progress, if they witness suspicious activity.