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West idlands blitz on hijackers
Page 10
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• by Pete Swingler West Midlands Police have launched a major operation to crack down on truck hijackers following 120 attacks on lorries so far this year involving £7.5m worth of goods.
Operation Coppergold has been launched as police fear gangs are planning to mount more attacks in the run-up to Christmas.
Of the 862 attacks on trucks reported in the UK so far this year, the West Midlands suffered worst with 120 hijacks. Police report that the area has become a magnet for organised crime gangs from as far afield as the North-East and SouthWest with the stolen goods being fenced through the region's black market, on car boot sales and market stalls.
Hundreds of companies transporting a whole range of goods have been hit by thefts at lorry parks, service stations and lay-bys. According to police, some hauliers are now being quoted up to £2,000 a week just to insure one vehicle.
Operation Coppergold aims to build up an intelligence data
base on gangs and handlers in a bid to crack down on the hijack racket. Certain vehicles will be screened by police with a close watch being kept on lorry parks and service stations.
DC Phil Jackson, who has helped launch the operation, says: "The effect of lorry crime in the West Midlands is huge and is having a knock-on effect on the whole haulage industry "The 'slaughter'—the term used to describe the process of disposing of stolen lorry loads— can be completed in a matter of hours and police say some of the money is being ploughed back into the drugs trade.
"We are expecting Oper
ation Coppergold to h major impact on lorry c says Jackson.