18 charged over SE truck thefts
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• A crime ring involved in the theft of over 150 trucks in South-East England is alleged to have been broken by an undercover police operation. Operation Daylight involved 50 police officers from the Essex, Kent and Metropolitan forces, based at Brentwood, Essex.
A total of 18 men have appeared at Grays Magistrates Court, charged with conspiracy to steal. Some have made previous court appearances in connection with the case and were remanded on bail.
The alleged theft ring centred on Grays, Essex, where thefts of trucks in East Anglia, Kent, London and the SouthEast were organised. The stolen vehicles are believed to have been broken up for the export of components.
Operation Daylight, headed by Inspector Kevin Macey of
I Essex police, began investigating the case a year ago, and linked thefts from up to four ears ago.
0 The prosecution follows the launch of Truckwatch, organised by Essex police, in conjunction with the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association. First implemented in the West Midlands, the Truckwatch scheme brought thefts in that area down to zero for three months and has since kept the number of thefts low. Sergeant Neil Seymour, who co-ordinates the scheme for Essex police, wants to see it go nationwide next year. He describes Truckwatch as "glorified neighbourhood watch scheme", which works by getting detail of stolen trucks out to drivers who then watch out for anything suspicious.