‘Chop shop’ raid as police discover stolen cars worth £250k

A man was arrested after police busted a suspected chop-shop where stolen cars worth GBP250,000 were stripped for their parts. Officers unearthed vehicles - including Land Rovers, a Range Rover, Jaguar and a Ford Transit van - during the raid in Haughton, Stafford,[1] on Tuesday, November 21. The swoop came as Staffordshire Police [2] had been working with West Midlands Police to investigate a spike in car thefts.

It is understood five of the cars were stolen from the West Midlands area and one of them was stolen from Staffordshire. The thefts are likely to have happened in the last five weeks with work ongoing to update the victims.

A 36-year-old man, from Telford, was held on suspicion of handling stolen goods. He was interviewed in custody and has been released on conditional police bail as an investigation continues.

READ:Stoke-on-Trent mum-of-five jailed after crash left 'amazing' man dead [3] Rachael Boardman was high on drink and drugs when she lost control of her car READ: Four defendants sentenced in North Staffordshire's courts this week [4] Cases include a Fenton pet shop burglar Detective Chief Inspector Adam Yates, who has been leading on the police's vehicle theft initiative, said: "This is a substantial find which has been achieved through proactive policing and hard work to gather intelligence and investigate the groups responsible for vehicle theft across Staffordshire.

"We know that there's plenty more to do in this area. We are going after vehicle thieves, proactively patrolling our roads and putting measures in place to protect people's hard-earned belongings. "As part of Operation Bormus, dedicated vehicle theft teams across the force are pursuing these criminals as a priority.

This type of crime can have devastating effects on people, businesses and livelihoods.

We are committed to putting a stop to those responsible and continuing to make progress in our fight against vehicle thieves."

References

^ Stafford, (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
^ Staffordshire Police (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
^ Stoke-on-Trent mum-of-five jailed after crash left 'amazing' man dead (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
^ Four defendants sentenced in North Staffordshire's courts this week (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
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