The Farming Express The Farming Express Jan iss4 | Page 11

Farm machinery is also been stolen to order for export abroad
It has recently been reported that farms
across the UK are being targeted by gangs
of thieves out to steal farm machinery of
high value. Tractors are stolen to order
and in 2008 machinery worth £36 million.
The theft of farm machinery is a lucrative
business as the stolen goods are easy to
sell on. There is not the same regulation
for buying and selling heavy machinery
and vehicles as there is for other vehicles
and so it is easy for thieves to conceal
stolen equipment and sell it on. Tractors
and Quad bikes make up the most
numbers of stolen farm machinery and the
recession has increased the demand for
various types farm machinery.
But thieves were quick to recognise new
ways to cash in on the economic climate.
When commodity prices rose in 2006
and 2007, there was a large increase
in the theft of metal from farms, with
farmers reporting pipes, gates and heavy
machinery. When oil prices rose there was
a 30% increase in incidents of red diesel
being stolen from farms.
Farm machinery is also been stolen to
order for export abroad. In 2007 farm
machinery thefts rose by over 40% in
England and much of this was the theft of
high value tractors, stolen to order, often
shipped immediately over the channel.
The NFU have stated that this increase
in farm machinery theft is because of a
shortage in the world of new machinery
due to large scale investment in farming

in Eastern Europe.
Tractors worth up to £100,000 each are
being stolen, loaded on to containers
or lorries and shipped abroad to be
sold on quickly. In late 2008 stolen UK
farm vehicles with a value of more than
£200,000 were found in Poland, following
a large investigation into the theft of high
value farm machinery.
The tractors were stolen from Kent,
Sussex, Berkshire and Hampshire but
were seized by Polish police in the north
of Poland, under a joint operation with
Kent’s Serious Organised Crime Unit .
Two men were arrested and charged with
the theft.