West Leeds police are urging the public to help identify stolen power tools
West Leeds: The police are on the lookout for the owners of some power tools they found during an investigation into organized thefts from vans. They’ve arrested eight guys so far, and three of them from Bramley are facing charges.
This whole operation, called Operation Dressland, is being run by the Leeds District Intelligence Unit. They started it because there’s been a rise in crimes targeting tradespeople and dealing with stolen goods.
Officers have been busy executing warrants, and they’ve managed to recover over 200 tools and pieces of equipment. Some of these have already been returned to their rightful owners.
Two of the arrested men, Nathan Furnisse and Michael Thompson, are both from Bramley. They were nabbed back in November and are charged with conspiracy to steal from vehicles between July and October last year. They’re set to go to trial at Leeds Crown Court on May 22.
Another guy, Joseph James, was arrested in December for a theft related to a vehicle in Alwoodley last October. He’s due back in court on July 5.
There are still five other men who have been arrested and are under investigation. The police really want to find the owners of the tools shown in the photo they released.
If you think any of those tools belong to you, the police want you to reach out. You can email them at ld.dressland@westyorkshire.police.uk with the image reference number and details about your theft, like the crime reference number or when and where it happened.
While they keep working on this case, they’re also advising tradespeople to keep track of their tool serial numbers, mark their gear, and think about using security measures like hidden GPS trackers.
And if you need to chat with the police, you can do it online through their live chat system.
