£20,000 of stolen kit returned to Salisbury Plain golf club

The items were seized by Wiltshire Police investigating a burglary

Author: Faye TryhornPublished 24th Jun 2022

Stolen machinery and tools worth around £20,000 have been seized of Wiltshire Police officers, and returned to their rightful owners.

Equipment was taken from Erlestoke Golf Club earlier this month (overnight on the 9th to 10th June), with offenders breaking into a secure building.

Ride-on mowers, strimmers, hand tools and other equipment was stolen.

Some of the items stolen from Erlestoke Golf Club were found inside a van seized by Wiltshire Police

Wiltshire Police detectives, as part of the Fortitude South team had been investigating the burglary and its links with a suspicious vehicle that had been seen at other golf clubs around Wiltshire.

A white Ford Transit van was traced to an address in Hampshire, where it was seized.

Inside it were almost all of the items that had been stolen in Erlestoke.

Detective Sergeant Darren Penny, from Fortitude South, said:

“We know that this burglary had a huge impact on the golf club and its members, and we have been carrying out significant enquiries to identify the suspects.

“At this stage no arrests have been made, but we were very pleased to be able to return these stolen goods to the club. They were very grateful, and delighted to have the items back.

“We will continue to investigate this burglary, as well as working hard to disrupt these sorts of organised thefts where offenders are coming into Wiltshire to commit crimes.”

The stolen items seized by police have now been returned to the golf club at Erlestoke

There's still an appeal for information into the incident at Erlestoke Golf Club.

If you saw anything suspicious, you're asked to contact Wiltshire Police on 101, quoting reference number 54220059622.

You can also call Crimestoppers anonumously on 0800 555 111.

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