Thieves’ Plans to Seize Cars Whilst Owner Was on Holiday Are Thwarted
West Midlands Police recovered four stolen vehicles worth a total £98,000 in one hit thanks to TRACKER, the UK’s leader provider of stolen vehicle recovery solutions (SVR). Working in partnership, TRACKER is helping the Police close the net on car thieves.
A BMW X5 worth £35,000 was reported stolen overnight from Edgbaston. Luckily it was fitted with a TRACKER device which was activated and West Midlands Police began their search. During the hunt for the BMW, a report of 3 other stolen vehicles from an address in Olton, two of which were fitted with TRACKER devices, also came in. The owners of the 3 cars – a Range Rover Sport worth £42,000, a Mercedes ML 350 Sport worth £11,500 and a Nissan Micra worth £9,000 – were on holiday; luckily for them a neighbour alerted the Police to the fact their premises had been entered, and in turn the cars were discovered to be stolen. In less than 4 hours the Police had located the BMW X5 as well as the 3 other vehicles in Tyseley.
PC Alan Meredith of West Midlands Police Air Operations Unit says, “Thanks to the timely activation of the TRACKER devices, we recovered approximately £98,000 worth of vehicles before thieves could sell them on or ship them abroad. Although the vehicles were unattended, so no arrests were made, all vehicles have been recovered for forensic examinations and will be returned to their owners in due course. This is a great result and TRACKER played a key role in the success of this operation.”
West Midlands Police Air Operations are one of a number of police forces that make use of TRACKER Check, which increases efficiency by allowing police officers to remotely view any information TRACKER stores on a stolen vehicle and the circumstances of its theft. More significantly, once a stolen vehicle signal has been picked up, police can speed up the frequency of the signal, making tracking faster and easier
Stephen Doran, Managing Director of TRACKER adds, “This is a clear example of the value of our partnership with all 52 of the UK’s Police forces. Our award-winning technology helped West Midlands Police track and recover these stolen vehicles, which sends a strong message to thieves. Criminals need to realise if a vehicle is concealing a TRACKER device, there is a high chance of the Police arriving at their door.”
