According to the report, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, 3 masked men were seeing trying to break into HGVs at the M6 northbound services.
A HGV driver who saw what was happening raised the alarm, which saw the trio of thieves flee the area.
Not long afterwards, police were said to have received similar reports of lorries being targeted at Hilton Services in South Staffordshire.
Officers were deployed to the services, and quickly spotted a Mercedes Sprinter van leaving the area. The vehicle had false plates, and after being stopped, was found to have several more fake plates inside. Further checks revealed the van had been stolen from the Dewsbury area of West Yorkshire.
Four men from West Yorkshire, aged between 20 and 29, were all arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft. Three of the four were also arrested in connection with attempted cargo theft, while one was arrested in connection with driving whilst disqualified.
Commenting on the arrests, Detective Inspector Pete Cooke, from the Criminal Investigation Department, said:
“We are continuing our proactive approach to vehicle crime and have made significant progress since we introduced our dedicated Bormus team. In January, we charged more than 10 suspects with vehicle theft offences and arrested more than double the number of suspects compared to December 2022. This type of criminality remains a force priority and we’re continuing to work hard with our road policing colleagues to ensure those responsible are dealt with as effectively as possible.”
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