Police carried out a string of early-morning raids across Leeds on Tuesday, arresting six people in connection with the organised theft of freight from lorries nationally.
Officers from the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit executed warrants at six addresses spanning Leeds’s Belle Isle and Kirkstall neighbourhoods.
The five men and one woman arrested range in age from 27 to 56, and are being held on suspicion of theft from a motor vehicle, linked to the disappearance of a substantial haul of stock taken from the back of a heavy goods vehicle. All six remain in police custody while enquiries continue.
As well as suspected stolen goods, officers recovered controlled drugs and a number of weapons during the raids, including a stun gun — an item prohibited under firearms legislation.
The investigation forms part of a wider push by YHROCU’s Regional Intelligence Unit against organised acquisitive crime in the region.
Front-foot approach
Detective Superintendent Al Burns, of the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit and the national ROCU lead for Serious Organised Acquisitive Crime, said: “We’ve recently increased the staffing of our Regional Intelligence Unit to develop a more front-foot approach, which has given the team an increased capability to speedily turn live intelligence into timely proactive operations targeting a range of criminality.”
He added that this renewed focus centres heavily on organised acquisitive crime, and that Tuesday’s operation is the first of several similar operations planned in the weeks and months ahead.
Cargo theft from HGVs is a significant national problem: police figures put the average at nine offences every day, costing an estimated £65 million last year alone.
Beyond the direct losses, the impact stretches to drivers traumatised by confrontations with thieves, damaged vehicles, the cost of replacement transport and insurance, missed deliveries, and knock-on disruption to supply chains, with the expense often passed on to customers through higher prices.
