CITS partners NCATT and NaVCIS were instrumental in locating this Honda Quad Bike in Bulgaria, which had been stolen two weeks ago from Hampshire. It is valued at approximately £6,000.

From information received, CITS partner NCATT – National Construction and Agricultural Theft Team, together with the Warwickshire Rural Crime team, recovered £350,000 of stolen and fraudulently hired machinery from a South Warwickshire property on September 5th.

From intelligence received from a CITS member, NCATT – National Construction and Agricultural Theft Team – this week recovered a ’23-plate New Holland T6 Tractor with front and rear attachments. 

CITS partners NCATT – National Construction and Agricultural Theft Team – on Monday 4th September recovered this 2018 stolen Manitou MT632 from a location in Hertfordshire. 

NCATT - the specialist police unit and CITS member – assisted Essex Police with the recovery of a stolen dumper, which had been cloned.

The 2021 machine – valued at £15,000 - was stolen a fortnight ago from Essex.

This week two NCATT officers, examined and recovered two machines.

Both machines were identified as stolen, the first from Merseyside and the other from Cheshire.

The amount of fuel thefts being reported across the UK shows no sign of decreasing, despite the price of fuel coming down in the last few months. On site generators, fuel bowsers, parked HGV’s and construction plant are still regularly targeted for fuel.

Yesterday (28.06.23) saw another successful police training event held at the impressive Leica Geosystem training centre in Milton Keynes, with key involvement from the National Construction and Agricultural Theft Team (NCATT), CESAR, and Hitachi construction.

Over 70 officers attended the full day's training, which offered practical tips on identifying stolen plant, including demonstrations on stolen construction and agricultural machinery identification from DC Chris Piggott of NCATT, and Police Liaison officer Vincent Laine from CESAR, as well as rogue equipment movements and common tricks used by criminals to target industry.

A campaign has been launched in Birmingham to respect road workers after civils staff were threatened with weapons including machetes, crossbows and dogs.

In the last three years 465 incidents of road worker abuse have been reported in Birmingham including a driver who threatened to chop off an operative’s head with an electric handsaw unless he was allowed through a closed road.

Partly thanks to an On The Tools White Paper, the UK Government is collecting tradespeople’s opinions on tool theft. Let them know which tools need protection and how they should be protected for the new "Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill".

On May 24th, newly formed police unit NCATT assisted GAP Group with the recovery of a machine hired to a suspected fraudster. A warrant was issued, and a Humberside property was visited where the machine – valued at £45,000 - was recovered.

NCATT - National Construction and Agri Theft Team – in conjunction with NaVCIS Intel and NaVCIS port, recovered a stolen Bomag Roller on May 17th at Harwich Port, which was being sent to Cyprus. The machine was stolen in Nottinghamshire in 2020. The machine is valued at £20,000.

On May 11th, new police unit NCATT - National Construction and Agri Theft Team – visited a Lincolnshire address to arrest one male in connection with Quad bike thefts.

NCATT - National Construction and Agri Theft Team - deployed officers to attend a property in North Yorkshire, where they identified two cloned stolen Dumpers, which were both recovered at the scene.

New police unit NCATT - National Construction and Agri Theft Team (NCATT) - received information that a suspected stolen excavator was on board a ferry travelling to the Hook of Holland, and immediately contacted Dutch police colleagues.

Yesterday (27th April 2023) NCATT (The National Construction & Agricultural Theft Team) officers were involved in a multi-agency initiative with Cambridgeshire Police Rural Crime Team.

NCATT assisted North Wales, Cheshire and Staffordshire Rural Crime Teams with a warrant in Staffordshire for the theft of cattle. During the raid a John Deere 6820, stolen from a local farm in September 2022 was recovered, approximate value 15K.

CITS' Associate member HSS had a machine stolen from the Milton Keynes area two weeks ago, but thanks to intelligence received by CITS police partners, the machine was located and recovered by Bulgarian Police.

New CITS partners, the National Construction and Agricultural Theft Team (NCATT) successfully recovered £50,000 of stolen construction machinery in Yorkshire last week.

The team recovered a stolen Takeuchi TB260 compact-excavator and two (a Terex and a Mecalec) 1-tonne dumpers.

The NaVCIS Rural unit assisted Northamptonshire police in two separate raids on March 17th. 

The first raid was to a scrap metal yard, where Environment Agency representatives also attended. The nine vehicles seized were four quad bikes, two vans on false number plates, two Ford low-loaders, and a Land Rover Defender.

The Combined Industry Theft Solutions (CITS) group, in partnership with Police, and Leica Geosystems, held a successful police training event at their facilities in Whitchurch, Shropshire. On February 28th, CITS in conjunction Leica Geosystems, and supported by equipment manufacturer Hitachi, and their fellow industry providers SITECH UK and Ireland, hosted a special police training event for over 60 police officers from regional forces.

Using intelligence received from a Warwickshire farm theft earlier this week, NaVCIS Rural together with Warwickshire and West Mercia police teams searched a location in Cleeve Prior, Evesham, Worcestershire.

NaVCIS conducted a week-long ports operation at the beginning of February, where they managed to recover over £350,000 worth of stolen items. Amongst the items recovered included: a JCB Telehandler, a Honda Quad Bike, two compressors, and various other vehicles, which were all ready for export out of the country.

On Friday 10th February, CanTrack with the support of a NaVCIS officer, recovered a stolen Forest Woodchipper from an area near Telford.

The woodchipper was found in the back of a large van. 

The NaVCIS police team yesterday assisted Lincolnshire Police with a reported tracked Quad bike, stolen from Sussex.

The bike which was tracked led the police team to a chop shop, where it was seized at the property.

Yesterday CITS partners NaVCIS In conjunction with Thames Valley Police’s Rural Crime Team, recovered a £65,000 New Holland T7 tractor in Oxford.

CanTrack Global assisted Wilshire Police and NaVCIS officer Gavin Hughes in recovering two stolen Gap Group machines. 

The machines were recently stolen in Hampshire; but were recovered from a remote location using CanTrack’s system.

There has been a significant increase in the theft of survey/GPS equipment since the beginning of December, in the West Midlands and South Yorkshire areas.

Historically, reported survey equipment thefts have primarily been limited to London, and were usually stolen from the roadside whilst in use.

The Combined Industry Theft Solutions (CITS) group, in partnership with police, and construction equipment manufacturer Hitachi Construction Machinery recently held a successful police training event at their new production facility in the North East of England. On November 22nd, CITS in conjunction Hitachi, hosted a special police training event for 60 officers from five regional force areas including Northumbria, Cleveland, North Yorkshire, Durham and Police Scotland constabularies.

The Tradespeople Against Tool Theft white paper was created to explore and highlight the realities of UK tradespeople who have been impacted by tool theft. This report uses information gathered from in-depth interviews, live focus groups, and targeted surveys to incorporate the real-life experiences and opinions of tradespeople, consumers, construction industry bodies, and construction brands who have been impacted by tool theft.

Businesses from across the sector are being asked to give their views on the first ever unified plan to slash the amount of diesel used on sites. Last year the Construction Leadership Council’s CO2nstruct Zero campaign set a target to cut the amount of diesel used by construction by 78% by 2035.

Reported fuel thefts increased sharply during August and September 2022, and are significantly higher this year compared to last year. The peak in reported fuel thefts in the summer months correlates with the high fuel prices that we saw during this time. Fuel prices came down slightly in October, and this was reflected in reported fuel thefts (however, there is a delay in the reporting of some data, which will have contributed to this).

The Combined Industry Theft Solutions (CITS) group, in partnership with the Ben Burgess, the John Deere dealer held a successful police training day in Ellington! On October 17th CITS, in conjunction with the Ben Burgess agricultural dealer in Ellington, held a special police training event, for 40 officers, from five East Anglian forces.

NaVCIS specialist vehicle examiner, helped aid Bedfordshire police on the 18/10/22, to recover a number of stolen vehicles. Amongst the haul of stolen items were, two cloned transit vans, two bowsers and three trailers, approximate value of the items recovered was £50,000.

The Combined Industry Theft Solutions (CITS) group, in partnership with Ben Burgess agricultural team held a successful police training day in Ellington! On October 17th CITS, in conjunction with Ben Burgess Farming in Ellington, held a special police training event, for 40 officers, from five East of England forces.

Welcome to the new monthly e-newsletter from the NBCC to keep you up to date with the latest news, campaigns, crime prevention guidance and support for businesses in the joint fight against business crime. Please share with your networks.

The NaVCIS team assisted the Metropolitan Police in a raid on an Essex property. Discovered there was a 2014 John Deere Gator which had been stolen from Essex, and a 2014 Ford Transit Tipper stolen from London.

NaVCIS Rural Team visited a Dorset property with Dorset’s Rural Crime Team, HMRC and the Environment Agency, where they recovered a JCB Telehandler which had been stolen in 2019 from Bedfordshire.

NaVCIS assisted Cambridgeshire Police Rural Crime Team in a roadside operation on September 21st, which resulted in seizing two stolen items: a Brendon Power Washer and a JCB 8008 Mini Excavator.

A £10,000 mini-excavator which had been stolen from Hertfordshire in 2018, was recovered with the aid of a Metropolitan Police warrant and the support of NaVCIS.

CITS partners NaVCIS provided assistance to the Humberside Rural Crime Team last week, following the discovery of a stolen BMW and Motorhome at a farm property in East Yorkshire.

On July 29th, Clancy and the Construction Industry Theft Solutions (CITS) had 58 police officers from six police forces attend a full day's training into Plant and Agricultural machinery theft, held at Clancy’s offices in Harefield, West London. The event involved various presentations and investigative machinery identification examinations in the afternoon.

A resounding success! CITS in conjunction with Clancy and Combined Industry Theft Solutions held a police training day in Harefield. 58 police officers from six forces attended a full day's training into Plant and Agricultural machinery theft and identification with hands-on examinations in the afternoon.

The NaVCIS police unit was contacted on July 12th by the Hungarian Border Control Police, who had stopped a lorry transporting 2 Volvo excavators.

The latest Opal Ace 6 month review is now available to download (January –June 2022)

Published by Intelligence Development Officer Scott Jeffreys & Intelligence Analyst Luke Juffkins

Contents Include:

• What ACE have done
• Key Crime Trends
• Partnership Working
• Emerging Threats
• What’s Coming Up

Trailer theft has increased by 69% during 2022 compared with 2021 (Jan-June) and is likely to increase further due to high demand. This figure includes trailers of all varieties, but there has been a recent increase in theft of agricultural trailers including horse boxes and other livestock trailers.

NaVCIS Rural assisted the Dorset Rural Crime team in a raid on June 14th, to arrest two suspects in connection with various vehicle, plant and tool thefts.  Two rural properties were searched, and various confirmed and suspected stolen vehicles, plant and power tools were located.

The NaVCIS Rural Team helped identify a stolen trailer during a multi-agency police operation on the Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire border, which took place on June 8th.

CITS partners, NaVCIS Rural team, assisted police and border force colleagues at the Hungarian Border over the bank holiday weekend, with the identifying of a stolen John Deere 3033.

Navcis Rural, this week attended a property in Sussex with the Sussex Rural Crime Team and identified and seized a number of stolen items from the property.

On the 23rd May 2022, during the morning plant and equipment checks a bottle was found under an ADT and upon further inspection it was an Improvised Incendiary Firebomb. This methodology behind the incident is not the first and shows a change in dynamics and an escalation in previous vandalism incidents.

The NaVCIS Rural team assisted TVP and Northamptonshire Police with a Buckinghamshire raid, which resulted in the recovery of a stolen Brendon Bowser and a 2020 Ifor Williams Flatbed Trailer.

The NaVCIS Rural and Leisure team were involved in a Metropolitan Police led raid in Essex on May 11th. The raid recovered a huge quantity of stolen plant and equipment from several containers at the scene.

Whilst NAVCIS officers were assisting Derbyshire’s Rural Crime Team on a pre-planned operation on the M1 motorway on April 26th, a cloned pickup truck (see image below) valued at £9,000, was stopped and examined. 

The NaVCIS Rural team attended a Bedfordshire location with Northants Rural Crime officer, PC Hutchings, after he had received an enquiry relating to stolen machinery. Whilst the officers were at the property, numerous items were found and identified to have been either stolen or fitted with false identification. 

NaVCIS officers supported Environment Agency personnel during a raid at a Lincolnshire farm, which resulted in the recovery of over £60,000 worth of stolen items. 

A CITS trained agricultural and plant intelligence development officer, last week attended a planned operation with West Mercia Police.

CITS supporters NaVCIS and Datatag ID provided Lincolnshire Rural Crime and Roads Policing officers with specialist training, which was later embedded with a roadside operation.

The NaVCIS team assisted Norfolk Police at a farm location in Lincolnshire, following a report of a tracking device being activated.

Long term CITS partners NAVCIS, have helped secure the conviction of Mantas Dvareckas, 25, of Granville Road, Great Yarmouth. Dvareckas has been jailed for over two years for the theft of high-valued GPS navigation systems from tractors in Cheshire, after DNA evidence linked him to the theft of the GPS systems worth over £30,000.

NaVCIS officers recovered a stolen JCB Fastrac from a property in Norfolk. The machine had been cloned, and was originally stolen from a local farm in 2020.

A CITS-trained intelligence officer recently recovered a twin axle Ifor Williams trailer, that had been stolen earlier that day from Warwickshire.

NaVCIS officers assisted CanTrack yesterday (28.02.22) with the recovery of a stolen JCB Telehandler. The £80,000 machine belonging to Sunbelt Rentals, had been stolen in Nottinghamshire and transported overseas.

On February 25th, NaVCIS officers recovered a £30,000 Caterpillar Telehandler from a property in Leicestershire.

NaVCIS officers assisted local police using a search warrant at an address in Chingford, London. The search resulted in the recovery of a number of stolen items.

NaVCIS assisted Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Police today (Jan 28th) in an operation against an Organised Criminal Gang (OCG), who had been targeting farm properties. After months of dedicated police work, a number of properties in both counties were searched.

On the 11th January CITS were informed that a Vauxhall Grandland vehicle belonging to a CITS member had been stolen in a knifepoint robbery in Royton.

Recently, TritonTrak helped recover a Wacker Neuson micro-excavator and Indespension trailer from a secure unit near Newcastle, Tyne and Wear.

CITS partners NaVCIS, working in conjunction with Nottingham Police, recovered a stolen Telehandler from South Yorkshire.

At the end of last year, Chief Executive of the Construction Equipment Association Rob Oliver, announced his retirement, not only from the CEA, after serving two decades, but, also as long standing CITS Board member and Treasurer. The CITS Board were especially saddened to see Rob retire, but are delighted to welcome the newly appointed CEA Chief Executive, Suneeta Johal, join the Board.

Construction Plant News Editor Lee Jones, reports from the Combined Industries Theft Solutions Conference (CITS) on some of the latest security risks facing fleet managers.

NaVCIS officers recently executed a further warrant with Norfolk Police which was in connection to their recovery of a JCB Telehandler in Staffordshire two weeks ago.

A new NaVCIS team member, PC Adrian Mills, recently recovered a stolen quad bike in Warwickshire following a Tracking activation.

The recent Combined Industries Theft Solutions (CITS) conference and exhibition, held at the impressive JCB world headquarters in Staffordshire on the 18th November 2021, attracted over 300 delegates throughout the day.

A stolen ’61-plate JCB telehandler was recovered this morning (24/11/21) from an address in Shropshire. The recovery was made possible following intelligence received by CITS partners NaVCIS.

NaVCIS officers recently recovered a Manitou telehandler from a property in Warwickshire. The machine was cloned with false identification, and had been stolen during a burglary from Merseyside in July.

Earlier this week, NaVCIS helped recover a JCB JS130 which had been stolen from the Staffordshire area in August 2021.

On Friday 17th September, NaVCIS officers assisted Northampton Police during a multi-agency initiative on the A43 near Brackley.

From intelligence received, NaVCIS officer Chris Piggott attended a property in Worcester on the 11th August, and recovered a Haulotte TH4014 valued at £50,000.

Gangs are using e-scooters to sneak on to UK farms and steal high-value GPS technology, an insurer has said. NFU Mutual said the cost of replacing the stolen equipment that forms an "essential part of modern farming" nearly doubled in a year to £2.9m.

On Monday the 20th July 2021, NaVCIS assisted Norfolk Police who were executing a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act at a caravan site.

FIGHTING THEFT PODCAST - With Ernie Locke, Detective Inspector of the new Opal ACE national intelligence unit, funded by our industry and sponsored by used equipment specialist Ritchie Bros. UK.

The theft of equipment from construction sites and farms has a significant impact on the businesses targeted from both the loss and replacement of the equipment taken, in addition to the cost of temporarily reduced activity and downtime within these sectors.

The launch of the Construction Equipment Association (CEA) owned Official CESAR Scheme (www.cesarscheme.org) back in 2007, has had a major impact on criminality across both sectors, driving down theft significantly for machinery brands that have adopted the Scheme. Now, with the launch of a new Police Unit, CESAR will have an ally in its fight against this type of crime.

DC Chris Piggott of NaVCIS in conjunction with Polish authorities intercepted a lorry at the Polish border, which was carrying the following stolen items: three Hamm Twin Drum Road Rollers, one JCB Excavator, one Doosan Compressor and one Whacker Plate.

CITS supporters NaVCIS have helped Romanian police in identifying a 2016 New Holland T6.175 tractor stolen from Holland. The owner has been informed.

On the 4th May 2021, with support from local prosecutors and help from the UK CITS partners NaVCIS, a police operation was carried out in north eastern Romania. The operation was targeting four different criminal groups, and involved 119 searches in 19 local regional areas.

In early May, Derbyshire Police held a roadside operation where over 150 vehicles were checked. With the help of NaVCIS and CanTrack, a stolen breaker was seized, together with 4 other stolen items, which had been stolen in London and Somerset.

CITS Member HAE is liaising with Buckingham MP Greg Smith on a forthcoming Parliamentary debate on hire sector theft.

CITS partner NAVCIS, working with Interpol and two other UK police forces intercepted three stolen JCB’s on the18th April.

With the assistance of TritonTrak, police were led to the location of a Doosan DX140 Excavator, which had been removed from site and taken almost 200 miles away. The owner, an Oxfordshire-based groundwork contractor was informed of the swift recovery.

On March 28th, long standing CITS supporters NaVCIS, recovered 4 stolen construction Road Rollers located within a shipping container at a UK port. The approximate value of the items was in excess of £75,000.

Last week a Trailer, Van, Terex HD 1000, Ifor Williams and a 4x4 were all seized from a site in Milton Keynes. The stolen Trailer which was tracked, led the police to the site, it had been stolen only a few miles away, in Northamptonshire.

On February 23rd, two NaVCIS officers using information received, recovered a farm quad bike. It was discovered hidden at a residential address in Bedfordshire, where a stolen trailer and caravan were also found.

Last week CITS partners NAVCIS, recovered a £40,000 stolen Avant Telehandler. It was located in Hampshire after being stolen in Petersfield, last month. Also at the recovery site was a £3,000 Ifor Williams Trailer, which had been stolen from Surrey in 2019. Investigations are on-going.

A surfacing contractor based in the North of England recently had a JCB 1CX stolen from a site on the outskirts of Leeds, West Yorkshire.

An instant alert was sent to the contractor from the TritonTrak system, informing them that their machine was being moved off site.

A major criminal gang have this week been brought to justice over a million-euro-series of crane, excavator and trailer thefts.

The criminals went on their high value equipment theft 'shopping spree', between September 30, 2016 and February 28, 2018.

In a recent webinar, industry voices and safety experts shared invaluable advice on safeguarding the well-being of your workforce and continuity in your business.

Businesses involved in construction and agriculture took part in the Lombard-backed webinar, which focused on the practical steps that firms need to take to ensure they can remain trading – and keep staff safe – during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

2020 continues to be a challenging year for business as it struggles to cope with the effects of COVID-19 in the workplace. This webinar offers guidance on how to keep your business up and running and on mitigating the impacts of the Pandemic.

On the 27th October, the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) received a call that two telehandlers had been stolen.

Navcis officer, Chris Piggott, in conjunction with Datatag has been involved this week (19th October) in the training of 20 officers from West Mercia's Roads Policing and Rural Crime Team's.

On Saturday (10th October) evening, So-Trak alerted one of their customers, a Regional Civil Engineering company with over 100 machines registered with them, that one machine was being used 'out of hours'.

CITS vehicle experts Navcis, have recovered a stolen John Deere 'Ride on Mower' and Deck, which is valued at 16K.

The recently announced CEA's 'CESAR Champion Award' for police officers has had its first recipient. The winner of the first of the exclusive pin badges is Detective Constable (DC) Chris Piggott who is attached to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS).

On Thursday 8th October NaVCIS (National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Police Service), and fellow CITS member Balfour Beatty gave a presentation to West Yorkshire's Roads Crime Team.

On Wednesday 7th October Navcis and CITS OFFICER, Chris Piggott, gave a presentation on theft awareness to NMU's engineers.

On Tuesday 6th October CITS supporters NAVCIS organised a police initiative in conjunction with Highways England.

On Monday 5th October, CITS partners NAVCIS law enforcement officers, spent the day training 16 officers from Sussex's newly formed Rural Crime Team. The team will specialise in the swift identification of stolen agricultural and plant equipment.

NAVCIS have had an extremely hectic week. Over two nights, at the Channel Tunnel, they have been conducting an extensive operation alongside local police forces. Over 600 HGV's and vans were stopped, both to verify ownership and to ensure all goods were legitimate.

CITS member, The Official CESAR Scheme are offering Farmers and residents living in rural communities in North East Derbyshire the opportunity to take advantage of a time limited 50% discount offer to protect their ATV's, tractors, trailers and 4x4 vehicles with Datatag and the Official CESAR Security Marking Scheme.

CITS partners Navcis have been working harder than ever recently, training officers and assisting in the prevention of crime. Over the past two weeks they have helped with the training of over 80 police officers from Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Cheshire and the BTP.

High value GPS equipment fitted to machinery is being stolen from farms and machine dealerships throughout the UK, with the North East particularly being targeted. This is becoming an increasing concern to insurers and police as the equipment is extremely difficult to recover.

A 2018 Honda quad bike model TRX420FM has been recovered.

This particular model has a “warn” Plough - believe to have been removed by suspected thieves -, and also has a front winch fitted. It also has a “Quad Tech” label on the rear plate.

It has been reported that there has been a national surge in the theft of quad bikes and ATVs. Rural insurer NFU Mutual have reported that areas in the North and South-West England have been particularly targeted in recent months.

Police were yesterday involved in a major raid of a travellers site in Star Lane, Orpington, Kent in a bid to stamp out crime across South East England.

The site was raided just before 3am by both the Firearms Tactical teams and local officers from the Metropolitan Police and assisted by NAVCIS officers and other agencies including the Home Office Modern Slavery unit.

CITS supporters NAVCIS, this week assisted Warwickshire Rural Crime Team with a warrant and recovered a stolen IFOR Williams Trailer, a Suzuki motorcycle with a stolen engine and 5 suspected Stihl power tools.

CITS are pleased to announce that THE BRITISH Security Industry Association (BSIA) has welcomed certification body Thatcham Research's extension to the proposed withdrawal date of its Whole Vehicle Marking certification to 31 December 2022 in order to allow sufficient time for a new British Standard to be developed and introduced as its replacement going forward.

Tools are stolen from a tradesperson’s vehicle every 20 minutes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to research from insurance company Direct Line.

CITS have been alerted to the latest Construction Index article of the alarming number of tools stolen from vans. Freedom of information requests to police forces revealed that there were 28,681 cases of tool theft from vehicles in 2019, equating to 78 incidences every day of the week.

NaVCIS freight officer Mike Dawber has this week been assisting Cheshire Police in a recovery named - Operation FREIGHT.

Long standing CITS supporters and the official industry security Scheme CESAR, has recently given an interview with an update on tackling plant theft.

CITS member and partner NaVCIS, this week assisted Warwickshire Police with a mini-excavator check on the M40. The police had become suspicious of a van towing the mini-excavator, and so it was stopped.

CITS member NFU Mutual has this week published their latest crime report confirming that rural crime is on the increase. The report confirms £54.3m of claims in 2019, which is up by an increase of nearly 9% compared to previous years, and at its highest in 8 years.

Thames Valley Police (TVP) yesterday (28th July) seized a JCB telehandler, as part of a complex police investigation into Modern Day Slavery offences in Wantage. The telehandler was identified as stolen from the Wiltshire area in 2008.

CITS and their crime fighting partners have identified an increase in theft, recent reports have shown an increase in the value of items being stolen compared to last year. A particular problem currently is the theft of Tractors and other large plant.

CITS partners NAVCIS in conjunction with Northumbria Police and CITS security member Can Track Global, have recovered a stolen Hamm HD12 Roller which was seized in Romania. The machine at the time was being used to construct a road over there.

CITS partners NAVCIS earlier this month followed up some intelligence, which led them to a seller of a Thwaites Dumper and a Kubota Excavator in Dorset. Both machines subsequently were seized for examination and have turned out to have been stolen from Surrey in 2019.

The Thieves were out and about last night (27 July) in West Yorkshire, Two machines were stolen including a Thwaites dumper truck from the Wakefield area.

Another successful recovery from CITS member, John Mussett of CanTrack Global. John has today recovered a roller which thieves had hidden in woodland.

The owner of the previously reported GAP machine has now been found. CITS were alerted of an ex GAP machine which has been found in the back of a stolen van in Bedfordshire. The machine which was sold back in 2013 was found but had no new keeper details identified.

The COVID 19 epidemic continues to bring a significant increase in the theft of plant and equipment and an increase in recovery operations by CITS supporters and partners.

Ian Elliott, CITS Vice Chairman and UK group head of security for utility services and construction specialist, Clancy Docwra recently gave journalist Peter Haddock some expert advice - fighting back against the plant theft lockdown boom - the second in the podcast 'fighting theft'.

CITS have been alerted by the Construction Plant Association (CPA) that there has been another stolen plant report, this time a Karcher towable HDS 17/20 pressure washer/bowser.

CITS are appealing to equipment dealers, plant hire companies and to the whole industry to stay alert!! Geith Warehouse in Deeside, outside Liverpool have echoed this alert after they were broken into on Friday evening (22nd May).

A theft has been reported to CITS member's the Construction Plant Association that on late Saturday 23rd / Sunday 24th of May. The following items were stolen from Laverick Plant's Moulton depot, near Scotch Corner, North Yorkshire.

This Scania lorry and low loader with 20 tonne Komatsu tractor on the back, was stolen at 4am this morning (23rd May 2020) from Boreham, Essex.

A machine stolen 3 days ago in Hertfordshire has been recovered.

The Can Track Asset tracker went live after the theft was reported this morning in North Kent.

6 tractors were stolen from Cassington in Oxfordshire between 22.00 - 06.00 this morning (21st May 2020) as follows:

• AD19 OBE - VIN: HACT7210TKE106179
  Datatag-24AW8S
• AD19 OBF - VIN: HACT7210AKE106224
  Datatag-27AW8H
• AE19 EJZ - VIN: HACT7210VKE106223
  Datatag-34AW8S
• AE19 EJV - VIN: HACT7210TKE106084
  Datatag-40AW8S
• AE19 EJL - VIN: HACT7210JKE106008
  Datatag-34AW60
• HX19 BVL - VIN: HACT7210VKE101281
  Datatag-44AU6Z

CITS police representative Chris Piggott has recovered yet more stolen items, this includes 6 caravans and 2 trailers. Chris was alerted by security experts Tracker that a caravan had been stolen from the Derbyshire area and was heading in the direction of Warwickshire.

5 more machines all fitted with CESAR have been recovered this week. They were stolen from the UK and shipped to Poland.

A digger stolen 6 years ago whilst works were being carried out on a police station has been discovered and easily identified thanks to the industries CESAR scheme. The recovery will enable the insurance company to recover some of their pay out costs from the sale of the machine!

CITS member Automatrics were contacted by one of their plant hire customers to report a Takeuchi TB230 stolen overnight from a worksite close to Highfield south of Sheffield.

Automatrics were contacted by a plant hire customer reporting a Kubota K008-3 Micro Digger stolen from a work site south of Frodsham Golf Course in Cheshire.

Stephen Redfern and Gareth Townley from Lancaster, using mobile numbers 07404 069950 and 07404 070376 are arranging plant hires for delivery to empty premises - usually advertised for let.

They are then stealing the plant.

FRAUDSTER - BRIGHTON

We have had someone trying to book a 3-tonne Excavator against a customer's account, but they weren't an employee of the customer.

LANCASHIRE POLICE UPDATE

Lancashire have an investigation running that is very much live and current. On 29/04/20 we were notified of plant equipment worth around £80,000 having been stolen by way of fraudulent hire in the West Yorkshire area.

In April of this year NaVCIS, received communication from the Construction Plant Hire Association, (CPA) describing a series of offences of fraud and theft of plant reported by his members that had occurred in both 2019 and 2020.

During the last fortnight, there has been a marked increase in plant and tool theft from both vehicles and site compounds. The sharp spike in thefts is largely due to construction firms and contractors temporarily scaling down work and shutting jobsites due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Time to fight back against Plant Theft: Police Liaison specialist Nick from Datatag ID Ltd explains how sophisticated criminal gangs are working to steal equipment and what we can do to stop them.

In these challenging times, the Combined Industries Theft Solutions Board (CITS) and its associated members, have been reporting an increase in the number of plant and agricultural equipment thefts and fraud events that have been occurring during the lockdown period.

Information from members of the farming community has played a vital role in two recent operations involving Warwickshire Police and the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) which led to the recovery of a treasure trove of machinery worth hundreds of thousands of pounds which had been stolen from farms across the UK.

We're hearing the word 'un-precedented' a great deal currently. These are indeed challenging times, and thieves never fail to take their opportunity in times of uncertainty.

We've seen strong levels of theft this year, and even as construction sites are starting to close operations as i write this, our Investigations Unit are still active and recovering stolen plant and commercial vehicles. We are currently deemed as an essential service due to our activity reducing crime.

These are some testing times for us all at the moment - as the coronavirus emergency seems to be affecting everyone's lives and livelihood.

Last week we decided to postpone the next PLANTWORX show from next year to 14th-16th June 2022. When we set up the show on behalf of the industry this was done on the basis of it being held in alternating years with the Hillhead Exhibition (Buxton). This was because the two events have a number of exhibitors and visitors in common and a more crowded exhibition programme was not what our members and their customers wanted.