7 crimes that shook the world of retail

Abduhl Sulaiman owned a Stop & Shop in Lexington, Kentucky, but in 2008 he was arrested on charges that he contributed to an illegal retail scheme.

Authorities concluded that Sulaiman also laundered money for a retail theft ring posing as a Kentucky business called Alpha Trading, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.

According to Retail Info Systems, Sulaiman laundered $60 million through his store.

Thieves reportedly made off with thousands of iPads using an airport forklift at John F. Kennedy Airport on November 12, 2012.

And it could have been an inside job. The New York Post reported that the FBI arrested a JFK employee after they learned he had allegedly made "suspicious inquiries to coworkers about the gadget shipment."

Complex reported that the heist scored robbers $1.9 million worth of iPad Minis.

Target's 2013 credit-card hack saw data thieves make off with the credit- and debit-card information of 40 million shoppers.

The fallout from the breach was massive, too. CEO Greg Steinhafel stepped down in 2014,and Target introduced a new, revamped chip-and-PIN credit-card standard.

The New York Times reported that the retailer ended up having to shell out $18.5 million to 47 different states in 2017 to compensate for the hack.

A gang of thieves in South Carolina was said to have made a hobby out of stealing from their local Hobby Lobby.

The Post and Courier reported that a gang of men, including a store manager, was accused of bilking the store of $1 million.

According to Retail Info Systems, the stolen goods were funneled into "two copycat stores" for resale.

A ring of 17 thieves in San Jose allegedly made a killing off of stealing and reselling products in the early 2000s.

ABC reported that the ring hit Safeway, Walmart, Target, and Walgreens stores in the Bay Area.

The group, run by the Le and Vo crime families, was busted in 2008.

The Mercury News reported that the families would contract with independent shoplifters who would procure name-brand razors and over-the-counter drugs for resale.

Cops seized semi-trucks loaded with $5.5 million of pilfered merchandise, as well as gold bars and diamonds.

Between April 2015 and January 2016, a solo robber hit a slew of Jared Vault, Zales Outlet, and Reeds Jewelers stores throughout the southern US.

According to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the stick-ups all followed a similar playbook. Abigail Kemp was accused of pulling a gun on store employees, zip-tying them in the back room, and stealing watches and jewelry.

But Kemp might not have been acting alone.

Larry and Michael Gilmore and Lewis Jones were accused of orchestrating the plot and providing Kemp with training, disguises, and instructions on which jewels to swipe, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In total, Kemp was charged with stealing over $4 million worth of jewels before the ring was busted.

Are you a retail employee who's experienced in-store crime firsthand? Email acain@businessinsider.com.