Thieves target farms in winter rural crime spree
Police and insurers are warning farmers to ramp up security over a spike in incidents of rural crime affecting farms and people living in the countryside.
Rural thieves are taking advantage of the bad weather and dark nights to mask their criminal activities.
In recent days, farmers have been posting reports and images on X, formerly Twitter, of their farms being raided by organised crime gangs.
James Peck, managing director of PX Farms, an agri business based just outside Cambridge, posted stills of a gang of four men breaking into one of his farms on 9 January.
The men were captured on CCTV driving out of a machinery shed in what appears to be a stolen Land Rover Evoque, which had its number plates covered.
Mr Peck said the men smashed open the electronic entry barrier to the farm, then sat watching near a hedge to see if they had been spotted.
They entered the farm in the Evoque about one-and-a-half hours later and broke into a shed, stealing thousands of pounds worth of hand tools and chainsaws. They were in and out in eight minutes, leaving the farm at about 12.40am on 10 January.
Mr Peck estimates it will cost about £4,000 to repair the damage caused.
Link to full article: https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/thieves-target-farms-in-winter-rural-crime-spree