Well my oldest brother had that issue and my father broke that chain by give him the "mirror"{reap what you sow}. My grandfather bought my brother a train set, and he loved it, he played with it every day. One day he came home from school and found that the main track was gone. Yes my dad took it and had it for a whole week. My brother looked everywhere for that track. He cried and was hurt but when my farther gave it back to him he explained why we shouldn't take things that does not belong to you w\o asking. And that helped a lot.

Previous answer was great. Is there also any reason why the child is stealing? Is the child getting positive attention and praised for good behavior at home? Does the child have much attention from family or is he using this bad behavior to attract attention? Try giving him opportunities to do good things and give him attention for the good things he's doing. Is he learning this negative behavior from school , friends or TV? This is in addition to explaining that stealing is wrong...the train set example was great.

Show him how people end up if he keeps stealing, like going to jail.