'Fear' after cooking oil thieves target Elmswell pub

Jimmy Uddin has passed on CCTV footage of the thefts taking place to the police

A restaurant owner says he and his family are "all quite frightened" after thieves returned to steal new and used cooking oil.

Jimmy Uddin, owner of the Fox Thai restaurant and pub in Elmswell, Suffolk, had CCTV footage of the thefts taking place while his family slept.

Sgt Brian Calver from Suffolk Police said the thefts were organised by a national criminal gang.

They are "shifting tankerfuls" of oil to sell for use as biodiesel, he said.

Mr Uddin said had been hard to sustain a business after the pandemic and the burglaries made it worse

Mr Uddin said the thefts had taken place "several times" at the business, which is also the family home.

"They're not hiding anything, they're coming in daylight, lights flashing, parked outside in their vans," he said.

"They jump over the gates and when I moved the oil into a garage, they broke into that."

The last theft took place between 04:00 and 05:30 BST, while the family were asleep, he said.

Sgt Brian Calver said the criminals often wore hi-vis or branded clothing to make it appear they worked for legitimate waste collectors

Sgt Calver said it was a national problem.

"We believe this is being taken in bulk to storage depots down in the south Essex or the London area and they're shifting whole tankerfuls around the country.

"This is a very small part of a very large organised crime group that operate all around."

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As a result of arrests, officers discovered the thieves transfer the oil from small containers into larger ones "like oil drums", and then "fly-tip in bulk" the small containers.

The "confident criminals" do not cover their faces or "worry about forensics" and most of the crimes occur during daylight, he added.

He urged business owners to store oil indoors.

Mr Uddin said it had been a real struggle to build up his business after the pandemic.

"On top of that, this sort of burglary is happening... we're all quite frightened," he said.

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