Police call for victims to identify their stolen plant

Following a swoop on a seller posting items on an on-line auction, the police are asking for help to identify hundreds of items of small plant and hand tools believed to have been stolen in London and the Home Counties to the north and east of the capital over the past year.

CJ has seen the haul which includes generators, hydraulic power packs, breakers and compaction plates along with over 50 new and boxed Bosch angle grinders and De-Walt mitre saws. Also recovered in the haul are cable detectors, cut-off saws and heat guns.

DC Ian Elliott who represents police interest on Cesar (Construction Equipment Security And Registration scheme) is convinced these items are stolen and is appealing for help locating the rightful owners. "The problem is that there has been some effort to disguise the rightful owners' identifying marks," he said, adding that the forensic department should be able to recover the ground off serial numbers on an almost new Stephill generator.

Having returned a few items by cross checking against reported losses, the police invited CJ, the Construction Plant-hire Association and contracting companies to help identify some of the gear - and to good effect with the rightful owners found for up to 100 items. However, there are still dozens of items waiting to be claimed, including a large number of nail guns, cut-off saws and heat guns - probably missing from the same company.

The police were alerted to the seller after an expensive piece of specialised equipment used by fire brigades was spotted for sale on the internet at a fraction of the original cost.

Anyone who has lost this type of equipment should send details, including serial numbers, to ian.elliott@met.police.uk

Photos of stolen kit:

Hot air guns

DeWalt kit

Generator

Nail gun

New angle grinders