The Lancashire
Telegraph is reporting that a huge police operation with over 100 police
officers investigating the theft of motor vehicles to be broken into parts has
seen two scrap yards raided and 8 people arrested.
Teams of officers attended the premises of Tom
Smith Commercials in Meadow Street, Great Harwood and another breakers yard in
Blackwood Road, Stacksteads.
In a joint operation, West Yorkshire and Lancashire
officers made a number of arrests and seized a vast amount of vehicle
components. Officers from both forces executed warrants at the Great Harwood
and Stacksteads premises suspected of being involved in the theft of motor
vehicles from across the north of England.
Police said the two sites were identified as being
potential locations for stolen vehicles to be taken to then broken up into
component parts and sold on.
At 1pm yesterday around eight police vehicles,
including a crime scene investigation van and a video van, were at the Great
Harwood premises, which consist of a scrapyard, stables and a detached house.
Contractors' vehicles could be seen at the premises loading vans on to low
loaders.
West Yorkshire Police said they had traced vehicles
stolen from Leeds, Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield to Lancashire
as part of their intelligence gathering. Specialist officers from both forces
were conducting extensive searches of the sites resulting in the seizure of a
huge number of nearly new vehicle engines, doors, vehicle panels and other
parts, suspected of being from stolen vehicles. The intricacies of accurately
identifying vehicle components and attributing them to stolen vehicles is now
to be carried out by specialist police vehicle examiners.
A spokesman for West Yorkshire police said:
"There has been a continuing trend of keyless vehicle thefts since 2010,
with 478 Ford Transit vans being reported stolen between January 1, 2015 and
December 11, 2015 across the Yorkshire and Humber region alone, with an
estimated value in excess of £7.5m. The Ford Transit vans is the most stolen
vehicle across the UK."
Police claimed that it was "a well organised,
systematic and efficient process to deconstruct vehicles, categorise them and
move them on for sale." Chief Superintendent Pat Casserly of West
Yorkshire Police Protective Services Operations said: "The scale and
organisation of the sites have been quite remarkable. Operations like the this
demonstrate our ongoing commitment to tackling this issue. Whilst collectively
these incidents result in high value crime, we must remember that each theft
has very human consequences. These types of vehicles are often owned and
utilised by small businesses and for some, the theft of a vehicle can result in
the loss of contracts and future work.”
"Criminals often have the misconception that
travelling across county boarders makes their crimes more difficult to detect
and investigate. Whilst this can provide challenges to investigators, it by no
means prevents officers dedicating themselves to locating those who commit offences,
investigating their crimes and bringing them to justice."
A 53-year-old man, 38-year-old man, 32-year-old woman, 30-year-old man,
and 29-year-old woman, all from the Great Harwood and Blackburn areas, and a
50-year-old man and 45-year-old man from Bacup, have all been arrested on
suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft, handling stolen goods and money
laundering. A 38-year-old man from Bradford has been arrested on suspicion of
conspiracy to commit theft of motor vehicles.
WHY?
The EA is also currently running a pilot project looking
into allegations of unpermitted sites breaking vehicles & selling parts on
eBay. This pilot is initially looking at a specific location & the evidence
& data gathered from this pilot will drive future work &
investigations.
Police said the two sites were identified as being
potential locations for stolen vehicles to be taken to then broken up into
component parts and sold on.
The 16th International Automobile
Recycling Congress will take place on March 16-18th 2016 at the Hotel Palace in
Berlin.
FAB RECYCLING (www.fabdirect.com) has successfully
retained its ISO14001 environmental accreditation, passing a recent BSI
inspection with flying colours with a resounding 100% positive conformity.
Receiving a solid stamp of approval for the third year in succession, proves again
how committed everybody is to getting things right at FAB.
The
Environment Agency is updating its guidance on Fire Prevention Plans and would welcome
your views on the principles of the updated guidance. 
