Police seize stolen machinery worth £50k at port

Police in Harwich recovered stolen plant equipment from a truck on its way to Europe

Stolen plant machinery worth more than £50,000 was recovered by police before it could be shipped out of the country.

Essex Police said it received reports of an industrial compressor being stolen from Little Hallingbury, near Bishop's Stortford on 25 November, estimated to be worth £13,000.

It was found two days later by officers searching a lorry at the port of Harwich, alongside two more compressors and further smaller equipment.

The machinery was seized and would be forensically examined before being returned to its owners, police said.

Det Ch Insp Neal Miller added: "We regularly conduct checks at our ports for high-value machinery like this.

"Thanks to the work of these officers, this stolen equipment will remain in the UK."

Officers found the industrial equipment after receiving a report about a stolen compressor