TER: steep rise in telehandler theft

This year has seen a dramatic rise in the theft of telehandlers, according to TER (The National Plant and Equipment Register).

It predicts that 150 telehandlers will go missing this year against 105 in 2006. With an average value of a stolen machine put at £32,000, the total cost to industry is almost £5m for telehandlers alone.

TER's Tim Purbrick said serious organised crime gangs 'clone' many stolen machines to change the identities before selling them as far afield as Australia, New Zealand and the US.

"Information passed to us would appear to indicate strong links between the theft of these high value machines and the funding of terrorist organisations," he said. However, progress is being made and Essex Police arrested five men who were subsequently sentenced to a total of 18½ years imprisonment.

Virtually all the telehandlers recovered during that operation had had their identities altered and were bearing the identities of telehandlers which the manufacturers had sold elsewhere around the world.