In a joint operation, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire’s Rural Policing Teams have recovered £150,000 worth of assets from an area of land in Braybrooke Road, Desborough.
On Friday 7 January, a cross-border operation saw officers from our Rural Policing Team join forces with Northamptonshire Police’s Rural Crime Team to attend the area as a result of information received that £90,000 worth of plant machinery, which had allegedly been fraudulently hired in Leicestershire, was being used on the site.
Upon arrival, both pieces of plant machinery were recovered and whilst it was being retrieved, officers carried out further checks on the site and identified three caravans as being stolen, with a total value of about £60,000 and an Ifor Williams trailer which had been stolen from Wales.
Officers contacted one of the victims of the stolen caravans and due to the circumstances of the theft, the insurance company had refused to pay out. The victim was therefore overjoyed as he had saved for years to purchase the caravan and had only had it a few months before its theft.
Sergeant Paul Archer from Leicestershire’s Rural Policing Team, said: “This operation was a great example of cross border working which saw the recovery of a substantial amount of stolen property. The victim of the fraudulently hired equipment reported the issue to us and we took action and we’d continue to encourage everyone to report incidents to the police – if we don’t know about it we can’t help.”
Sergeant Andy Maher from Northamptonshire Police’s Rural Crime Team, said: “This was an extremely successful operation and I am pleased that not only was the plant machinery recovered, but three stolen caravans were also discovered too. They will now be returned to their rightful owners.
“It was great to execute this operation in partnership with our colleagues in Leicestershire and I hope it sends a message to criminals – it doesn’t matter where you commit your crimes because we will work together to thwart you.”