British Transport Police metal theft crackdown results in discovery of stolen goods worth £150,000

BTP officers discovered £150,000 worth of stolen goods this week, during raids to uncover metal thefts in South Yorkshire.

The raid in Rotherham, which was supported by the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, uncovered stolen items including a ride-on lawn mower and a woodchipper worth over £25,000 that has been stolen last week. 

Further items stolen from multiple burglaries and thefts across the region were also seized and returned making the total goods recovered between £140,000 - £150,000.

In a second raid in North Lincolnshire, a stolen industrial cleaner was recovered worth £4,500.

BTP Superintendent Mark Cleland: “Our approach to tackling metal crime in the waste industry has been to work with enforcement and national infrastructure partners to disrupt crime and to identify those who use the waste industry to move stolen property.

“In the last 18 months using this approach we have made hundreds of arrests and recovered thousands of items of stolen property.

“The owner of the ride on mower would have had to pay over £25,000 which he couldn’t afford, and he was going to wind up the business until he received the phone call this week that it had been recovered by our officers.

“The waste sector is key to keeping the country running and we continue to support those who run legitimate businesses. For everyone else, we’re looking at you, we’ll continue to make arrests, seize criminal assets and shut down illegal operations.”

A spokesperson from Joint Unit for Waste Crime added: “This operation, supported by the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, again displays our ongoing commitment to bring together the skills, capabilities and resources of partners to target criminals and their networks.

“We will continue to find innovative ways to impact upon and pursue those individuals and companies who use the waste industry to commit crime, exploit people and harm the environment.”

If you spot something at a railway station, contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40.

Alternatively, anonymous reports can be made to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.