Fueling My Enthusiasm!

A great result in the early hours of this morning!  We were on our special operation, the one I have been dicked with for the last two and a half weeks on nights.  

We were moored up in our unmarked response car in our usual haunt for high value thefts when a distinctive blue Ford Transit van came into the area where we were parked.
Giving us and the articulated lorries a good looking over they turned around, slowed past us, gave us another look and took off like scalded cats.

Putting the VRM out for circulation as it completely disappeared we searched the area for it.  PNC showed it was "IN TRADE" no surprises there.

One of the officers on duty heard this over the radio and said it matched the description exactly to a van that been involved in the robbery of £200,000 worth of suits!

Hearing over the radio that it was spotted, we blued over and saw it surrounded by police vehicles but trying to get through no matter what.

I turned the hidden blues on and pulled straight across his path.  He had no where to go!

Both dragged from their vehicles and cuffed, we found barrels of fuel in the back along with hoses and equipment to steal fuel.

It appears that they were approaching lorries at night and stole fuel whilst the drivers slept.

They were nicked for theft of fuel, going equipped to steal and suspicion of theft of the suits.

Off The Back Of a Lorry UPDATE

Well after humping those boxes for the best part of half a mile and throwing them over a Timber yard fence, we found out where they had originally been stolen.

The owner for the Timber Yard had spoken to one of his neighbouring yard owners and found they had come from him!

The lads who broke into the yard, had thrown everything over the fence and left it there to collect later due to its large quantity.

The problem is, we came along and dragged it half a mile away and the wet boxes were destroyed spilling contents everywhere.

Thankfully I wasn't one who had to take it all back!




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Off The Back Of A Lorry

Last night is one of those shifts where one incident is the one of the ones that stays with you for the rest of your days.

It wasn't particularly amazing it was just very surreal.

An immediate grade call came after a Q night at 4am this morning and it was to assist some colleagues from the BTP at a train station out in the sticks.

The report from a witness saw two males carrying boxes along a railway line and then disappearing with them over a fence.

Believing they were stealing equipment or cable we arrived on scene just before the local BTP unit arrived.

A search of the immediate area discovered a couple of large rain sodden cardboard boxes on a path near the fence to the railway but no suspects.

Opening them up, we found iPod Touch cases all brand new about a hundred or so in each box,

The BTP carried out a track search incase the two suspects had gone back on the railway while we carried out an area search.

We then received a call.

"We've found some more boxes

......hundreds of them!

..........and tv sets!"

We then assisted in looking for an exit to remove these boxes and that involved having to climb over a rather large gate to a Timber yard which my vertically challenged colleague found a little difficult!

Especially when he caught his trouser leg on a spike and couldn't get down!

Over his shoulder from a house opposite I saw a bemused old lady watching us from her bedroom window.

I'm not surprised, the gate made a racket and our laughter was loud enough to wake the dead.

Going track side we found the BTP, a member of staff from the railway, a large pile of wet boxes and one piece of Heras fencing laying across the tracks.

For an hour or so we humped literally hundreds and hundreds of boxes of iPod cases on to the piece of fence.

Then we then went back and forth dragging this fence on the tracks laden with the boxes about half a mile or so which left us knackered and filthy.

We threw them over another fence at the Timber yard in a pile to be collected.

We then had to load a large van with the gear in order for some poor sod to book them into property! Thankfully that wasn't me!

It was guestimated that there was approximately 5000 of these cases about £10 each retail at least, so you do the maths.

We still don't know where they came from as there were no loss reports.

No wonder these lads gave up carrying them all that way!

We nearly did!



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Oh! The Irony!

We arrested a bag thief today. He tried his luck whilst some unsuspecting member of the public was drinking her coffee in one of the well known coffee drinking establishments on our patch.

He was caught by an eagle eyed member of the public who alerted us as we passed and after a bit of a struggle, he was arrested.

Due to his previous for countless bag thefts and the exact nature of this arrest, we were authorised to carry out a section 18 search of his flat.

Upon arriving at the filthy clutter ridden hovel we were greeted by the tell tale signs of previous forced entries by past colleagues.

Searching through the rooms, my colleague shouts

"Here take a look at this!"

He hands me an envelope, inside it was a letter with the familiar "Metropolitan Police" blue logo.

"We are sorry to hear that you have been a victim of theft namely £250" it read

I had to read that again:

"We are sorry to hear that you have been a victim of THEFT!"

The thieving sod had even had the cheek to request Victim Support!

Awww the poor little darling!

He must have been heart broken!

The laptops, cameras, purses, handbags, suitcases he's stolen in the past has in no doubt left his victims gutted.

Now he's has a taste of what it feels like yet he still continues!

I wonder if he gave one minutes thought to the fact that this is EXACTLY how he's made his victims feel in the past and again today?!

.....Probably not