The National Plant and Equipment Register (TER) in the UK has played a critical role in the prosecution of five men convicted of offences relating to the theft of nearly £700,000 worth of vehicles.
The investigation was instigated after TER noticed a rapid rise in the reported theft of telehandlers. Essex Police Crime Squad, which investigates organised crime within Essex, UK, has thanked TER for its assistance in the covert operation.
“We’d received a number of calls from people who had been offered stolen telehandlers from a particular source,” said Tim Purbrick, a manager at TER, part of the Loss Management Group of companies.
“We subsequently passed the considerable intelligence that we’d amassed to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) from where Essex Police requested the intelligence package,” he added.
In 2004, Essex Police began a four month covert operation to investigate the case. TER subsequently recovered 17 telehandlers and one dumper truck – together worth nearly £700,000 – during an operation carried out on behalf of the insurers and construction companies involved.
“Examination of the telehandlers showed a considerable level of ingenuity by the criminals,” said Purbrick.
“The machines had been professionally ‘re-identified’ to show identity details of vehicles that had been sold by manufacturers into countries such as New Zealand, America and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. “
The re-identification not only included alterations to the serial number plate and the stamped-in number, but even to the engine and axle numbers. All the stolen machines had been fenced into the legitimate used equipment market where they had been sold on to innocent purchasers.
According to TER, there are around £8 million worth of stolen telehandlers currently in circulation in the UK.
TER operates an international database of owned and stolen equipment support to law enforcement agencies with the identification and recovery of stolen equipment on behalf of owners and insurers.
