Tracker leads to hideout in woods
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by David Harris • Sussex police following a stolen truck fitted with a Tracker device were led to a woodland site packed with other stolen LGVs.
The truck was taken from a locked yard in Eltham, South London and driven to the secret breakers yard in Ifield Wood, just outside Crawley.
A search including tens of officers and a police helicopter surrounded the wood before closing in on the site.
One of the police officers involved in the operation says: "There were eight or nine vehicles hidden there, many of them in bits. It was an astonishing scene and we are still trying to sort through the load of parts to see exactly what vehicles were involved."
The Scania truck that led the police to Crawley was untouched, but only because it was found immediately. Two men were arrested during the operation on 17 January. One was subsequently charged and will appear in court in September.
The officer said: "Another two or three hours and the truck would have would have been in bits. It was a copybook operation."
Around 35,000 Tracker devices have now been sold in the UK since the device was introduced in 1993; 21% of them are fitted to LGVs or light commercials.
Ralph Kanter, chairman of Tracker, says it is common for police trailing one stolen vehicle equipped with Tracker to find that it leads to others. He adds that 230 stolen vehicles fitted with Tracker have led to 450 stolen vehicles being found.