Episode 6 Thief Trackers

Bag snatchers, robberies and street crime.

According to police figures more than

3,500 theft incidents are reported every day in the UK.

They stole part of my life.

But have you ever wondered what happens to our belongings

when they're stolen?

Thief Trackers tells the story of where they go.

We're hiding satellite tracking devices inside a range

of desirable everyday items like cameras, smartphones and bicycles

to trace the looters' footsteps.

The thieves think they've got away with it

but we're tracking their every move

with secret filming, CCTV and police raid footage.

Police officers with a search warrant, open the door!

We'll get an insight into the criminal mindset and uncover

the unseen journeys that our treasured possessions take

when they're stolen.

Today an opportunist thief makes off with our designer handbag,

not realising there's a GPS tracker inside.

It's a really busy street, lots of people about,

but he doesn't seem to care that he's been seen -

he's very sneaky, he's got a real nerve.

It's disgusting. It's really, really, really disgusting.

The risks of being a have-a-go hero,

two cyclists share the dangers

they faced while tracking their stolen bikes.

I should have got hold of the police

but it's only afterwards you realise that you were in danger.

And we're with the West Midlands Police as they

attempt to recover property they believe to be stolen.

One of the males has got three Xboxes

and some other consoles which is a little bit unusual, you might expect

him to have one, possibly two, but certainly not three or more.

The UK handbag market is worth a whopping £1.2 billion,

more than half the female population,

that's 13.5 million women, bought a bag in 2013.

The contents often make them highly valuable.

My bag is probably worth about £600 including

-the contents and the bag itself.

-£300, probably -

because the bag was quite expensive and then make-up is expensive

and my phone, and my wallet, OK, maybe more.

These desirable accessories

and their contents make tempting targets for thieves.

Statistically there's roughly 1,600 bag thefts

per day in the UK - that's quite a large number.

The thief would take them

to a spot fairly close to where the offence was committed,

have a look through the bag, and take what's readily disposable and

throw away the rest of it - and if it's a high value bag they may well

hang on to that as well because it's anything they can make money off.

This type of crime has more than financial repercussions.

It is quite a lot of aggravation for the actual individual victim

of these crimes and then the knock-on effect of having to

change the locks on your house, getting a new driving licence,

getting your credit cards barred.

Tracing a handbag once it's been snatched

is an almost impossible task,

unless you've fitted it with a GPS tracker like this.

This tracking device has a small battery that can last up to

two weeks depending on how many signals it sends out.

The device can figure out its location - it can come up

with a set of numbers that enable you to plot its position

on a map and display that map on a computer screen.

It does that by using GPS - the global positioning system.

The basis of that technology is this device can make range

measurements from here to satellites orbiting in space.

We're hiding our tracker in a mid-range designer handbag

costing around £170, and stitching it into the lining.

It should be tempting enough for the average sneak thief.

With the tracker fitted we set out for Soho in the West End of London.

Each year more than 800 thefts from the person take place here,

accounting for half of the crimes of this kind

for the whole of the Borough of Westminster.

There are crime hot spots like this in towns and cities all over

the UK, and we all know where they are where we live.

This area has a very heavy footfall with hundreds

if not thousands of people per hour walking through here.

The types of crime we are looking at are opportunistic thieves

which often operate singly or distraction-type thefts

which would be done in pairs or in teams.

A member of the Thief Trackers team settles down outside

a restaurant in Soho with our bag clearly visible.

We can now see from the data that the tracker is live.

With our surveillance operation underway, it's just a matter of time.

The chilly spring air soon has our victim wrapping up warm but

she's behaving just as we all would when dropping by our favourite cafe.

The idea of this operation is not to confront thieves - we just

want to see where our belongings go once they've been stolen.

Now we're rolling, our overt cameras withdraw and we're left with

these two hidden cameras plus the restaurants own CCTV.

It's getting dark, no-one has shown any criminal intent

towards the bag - but the street is becoming busier.

He's clearly interested - and he's coming back for a second look.

30 seconds later and he's here again, he can't keep away,

it seems as though he's checking his escape route, perhaps

waiting for the crowds to thin out before picking his moment to strike.

He's sidled right up to the table,

it'll take a brazen thief to grab it from there...but he does.

Our £170 designer handbag is nabbed

and the thief slips away into the crowds.

Later on Thief Trackers we're on the trail of our stolen designer

handbag on its journey through the London backstreets.

It is quite shocking, you can hardly believe that it's happened.

Oh, it's awful.

The bag came to this area in the early hours of the morning

after being picked up from the original drop point.

According to the National Police Database Of Stolen Property,

the items most wanted by thieves in the UK are portable computers,

smartphones and bicycles.

There were 395,000 bicycle thefts in England and Wales in 2014.

With a recovery rate as low as 5%, it seems tracking them can be

very difficult.

Organised criminal gangs are often responsible,

targeting specific areas with a high density of bicycles,

but a bike is still vulnerable to opportunist individuals.

University lecturer Gavin Evans is a recent victim.

I had locked it properly on a good solid lock and I thought that

was absolutely safe - I didn't think anyone could get through that.

And even though he didn't have a tracking device on his bike

he was determined to track it down somehow.

When I came back I saw the lock in two pieces, it had been clipped

and the bike was gone.

It just really angered me that somebody was going to sell

the bike for much less than it's worth - what does it mean to them?

But for me it meant a lot.

Gavin's blood was up - he wasn't going to take this lying down

so he began searching for his stolen bike.

A friend of mine, Gabby, had had her bike stolen

and she had traced it on an online auctioning site.

Gavin logged on, expecting a long trawl through

hundreds of legitimately advertised bicycles.

And I looked - and there was my bike!

First thing up!

Well I realised I had to act very quickly so I phoned

the seller - we then agreed to meet,

and on a street corner which already looked suspicious,

in East London the next day.

A risky move - police advise never to approach a seller like this

without their back up.

He was a young guy of about 22 - couple of scars on his face,

quite thick set, and so I said,

"Well I want to give the bike a ride."

And I gave the bike a ride, but it was very dark.

It looked like his bicycle, but once he went for a spin

he realised that something wasn't quite right.

The rack had gone, the pedals had been changed.

I had had slide-in pedals and the sliding things had been taken off.

Now he wasn't 100% convinced that this was his bike,

but he still took a chance and confronted the seller.

I said to him, it feels exactly like mine,

but it doesn't have the carry-on and the pedals are different

so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I said to him

I'm 90% sure it's mine and you've stolen my bike.

His response was "No, no, I'd never steal a bike,

"I bought this from a friend."

So I said "Yeah, yeah, yeah." And I just walked away.

Uncertain that it was his bicycle, Gavin returned home empty handed

then he began to have second thoughts.

I started sort of kicking myself and I thought what were the odds

and I thought I was a fool, that was my bike.

Undeterred, Gavin resumed his quest.

With the bike still up for auction he called the thief again -

he knew he'd have to disguise his identity.

So he opted for the full Dead Ringers approach!

The only thing I could think of was this rather ridiculous

faux Texan voice, so I phoned the guy

and I said, you know, "I wanna buy this bike,

"I've gotta buy it for my daughter."

You know, that kind of thing - very bad accent and

he agreed to meet me again.

Gavin chanced his safety a second time,

needing more than a dodgy accent

he tried changing his appearance.

Hopefully he wouldn't regret it.

I was worried that he might be wielding a knife

so I tucked those in sort of like that

and...

..there we go!

Gavin set off for another meeting with the thief,

taking an enormous risk, but he was determined to see

his dangerous plan through to a conclusion.

He said, "Aren't you the guy who thought that I'd stolen the bike?"

And I said "No, you've got the wrong guy there."

With his flimsy cover story falling apart,

Gavin had no choice but to act.

I took off my hat, took off my sunglasses - I pushed my face

up to his, and I said, "You're a thief - you stole my bike."

Except I didn't, I used more industrial language.

Buoyed up by adrenalin,

he was determined not to let the opportunity slip a second time.

And I said you and I, we'll go to the police together.

And we'll sort it out whose bike is whose.

And he said, "Or you could just take it."

So I said "OK, I'll just take it." So I got on the bike and rode home.

So all was well in the end.

Considering the risks he took, Gavin was lucky to get his bike

back without injury, others have been less fortunate.

I should have got hold of the police,

particularly the second time around,

but sometimes you don't feel fear then,

it's only afterwards you realise that you were in danger.

Elsewhere in London, Alex Sweeting found himself in a situation

where he felt compelled to come to the aid of a mugged bike victim.

I was just cycling down this road - it's obviously quite busy now

but on the night it was pretty much empty.

Previously Alex had been involved in a tangle with a car,

so he'd fitted a camera to his bike in case of further incidents.

However on that night in March 2015,

his camera recorded an altogether different drama.

On his way back from a cycle club meeting Alex suddenly noticed

a man dressed in cycling gear hurrying towards him.

As I pulled up next to him he said, "They've stolen my bike."

He'd actually been barged off his bike

by three guys and they proceeded

to beat him up, kick him and then they took his bike and off they ran.

Without a second's thought for his safety Alex hit the pedals

and gave chase to the bike thieves.

I guess the adrenalin must have kicked in - you can

see my heart rate goes up on the video.

He was lucky not to have burst a blood vessel.

I didn't really think at all, I just thought, "What can I do?"

If it was me I'd hope someone would do the same thing.

Pumped up and in pursuit, Alex sped along

at close to twenty miles per hour -

soon he caught sight of the thieves.

So as I came around the bus, that's when I noticed that there was a

dropped kerb and I would get there pretty much the same time as them.

I waited until the very last minute until I shouted anything

and that's when they dropped the bike,

that's when it kicked in and I thought

if I carry on after them - I don't really know the area that well,

so my life could have been in danger at that point.

The thieves ran off and though the police combed the area

the bike bandits had long since vanished.

Yeah, I'm glad I stepped in,

it's an awful feeling having something stolen but it's

even worse when you're actually on the bike as it gets stolen.

So what can we do as consumers in the fight against bicycle crime?

Here's bike shop owner and cycling enthusiast Richard Benn.

Double lock everything

so you lock the bike to something - you always lock

the wheels to the frame and if you can put some lockable wheel skewers

as well as... The more you can do the better,

make it difficult for them.

One simple tip is to make a note of your bike's serial number

which you'll find on the bottom of the bike frame.

Also join Cycle Register, the police force bike registration scheme.

You need to go to any police station and they will mark it on the

frame - add a sticker on the bike which is impossible to peel off.

As soon as the bike is recovered they see that,

you'll get it back relatively quickly.

But if the worst happens and your precious bike is stolen,

it's still possible to track it down using old fashioned detective work.

They often turn up on auction sites online, in markets,

second hand shops - it's certainly worth keeping an eye open for it.

But be very, very careful - if you do go to recover your bike, please

don't ever go to anything but a private address - don't ever arrange

to meet anybody in the street - and please take somebody with you.

Preferably a policeman!

Time to consider the fate of the designer handbag

stolen during our very own surveillance operation.

Earlier we fitted a GPS tracker like this inside the lining

of our bag, and took it to a restaurant on a busy street.

Our victim was distracted and a crafty sneak thief swiped

the bag, oblivious that his every move was caught on camera.

So where did the bag go? The tracker now does its job.

The data shows that once the thief grabbed the bag

he quickly headed West to Old Compton Street, where the

signal come to a halt right by this pub, it's just a few feet

away from the restaurant where the handbag was stolen.

At 7:05PM at a pub like this in theatre-land,

that would be absolutely crowded so he would be unnoticed -

probably gone to the toilets - had a look through the bag - seen

what items he can readily get rid of and dispose of and secreted the bag

perhaps at the back of the cistern, or somewhere within the toilets.

We checked the pub for ourselves - there was no sign of the bag

and staff were unaware of it - but the tracker was still

active, signalling from somewhere close-by the pub.

So we sat tight, and waited for the next move.

Two days after the theft, at one in the morning,

the tracker suddenly signalled again.

It's possible that the thief has stashed it nearby,

on the street, or in an adjacent building before moving it on.

It's likely the thief took the bus as half an hour later

the tracker signals four miles away in Bermondsey,

South London.

Keith picks up the trail.

The bag came to this area in the early hours of the morning

after being picked up from the original drop point

and went into a tower block.

GPS technology will point you to a building -

but faced with a six storey block of more than 50 flats,

it's impossible to pinpoint the exact tracker location.

So more traditional search methods are required.

If it was the police service they would be doing

a number of intelligence checks to see

if any known criminals lived within that block or, as you're just

trying to find out where the property went, a leaflet-drop

isn't a bad way of doing it and hopefully somebody coming to you

and saying, "I bought this legally and honestly through these means."

Our team set out on foot - knocking on doors

and leafleting the area.

We even played our surveillance

footage to local residents to see if they recognised the bag snatcher.

It's really, really, really disgusting.

It looks like he has some experience and he's spotted an opportunity.

You don't want to be not trusting, do you?

But unfortunately it's increasingly necessary.

Another thing you can try is search on Ebay, Gumtree -

any of those type of property-type websites.

Again, all different types of options and you have to keep an open

mind as to where the ultimate destination of the bag is.

The last report from the tracker still showed it somewhere

in the block of flats, but the day after our leaflet drop the signal

suddenly stopped, it's possible that whoever had the bag was

spooked by our enquiries, discovered the tracker - and destroyed it.

So what of the handbag?

With the tracker destroyed it would be easy for the bag to be sold on,

to make it less easy to dispose of we went to alert some local shops.

No, we do have bags that come in but we haven't

had what you described -

but if it did come in we'd be quite cautious.

If it's a female, not so bad,

but if it's a male brought it in we'd be very suspicious.

I'd like to see the receipt for it.

You have to have ID such as some type of photo ID,

and if we think that's OK we'll buy the bag.

But what you describe, no, we wouldn't.

The whereabouts of our designer handbag are unclear

but if the authorities want to track down this Soho bag-snatcher,

they're more than welcome to take a look at our surveillance footage.

Police forces across the country have various

methods of tackling theft.

In the West Midlands, Operation Magpie has been underway

since May 2013.

It's a dedicated crackdown on thieves in the Coventry area.

PC James Rees is one of four officers in the Magpie team.

We've recovered in the region of £200,000 worth

of stolen property - that could be anything from tablets,

laptops, mobile phones, jewellery.

Finding out what becomes of stolen items is a daily task

and officers do whatever they can to recover property.

We've been responsible on our team alone for the arrest

of in the region of 250 people for different

offences covering burglary, robbery, vehicle crime - and those

arrests have led to an approximate detection rate of around about

70% to 75% over the course of those two years.

Reuniting stolen property with its true owners involves

a lot of work, that means checking manufacturers warranties,

searching for user data in personal electronics,

and even posting lists of stolen goods on social media sites.

The Magpie team have noticed a recent spike in theft numbers.

Following a tip-off they're preparing a series of raids

across the city, in the hope of recovering stolen goods.

We've received intelligence from a number of different sources

that a nominal who is well known to us as a burglary target,

just recently been released from prison, is back up to his old tricks

committing burglary and handling of stolen property in Coventry.

The occupants inside - they are all known drug users

so there is, there is a risk in terms of needles

and such like so just be very cautious when you're searching.

Is there any questions? No? OK.

With no idea of what they might come up against, the Magpie officers,

must be prepared for any eventuality as they set off.

PC Rees and the team will follow the standard procedure

for a police visit.

The safety of our officers is paramount

in situations like this when we're going into what is the unknown.

There may be weapons at the address, there might have

hid bats, knives, machetes -

you never know what you're going to face.

It's vital the officers minimise the likelihood of their targets

being tipped off so the element of surprise is essential.

We'll pull up short of the address -

walk up to the address -

and then knock the door, give the occupants the opportunity to

open it voluntarily.

If they don't we will be looking to force entry.

As they approach the area, PC Rees gets a surprise of his own.

PC Rees has spotted someone from the address they are raiding

so they need to act fast.

Police officers with a search warrant - open the door!

Luckily the front door is open

and they can gain entry before anyone is tipped off.

I'm executing a search warrant, you're not under arrest,

you're just being detained, all right?

The resident has a history of burglary convictions,

officers believe he is linked to recent thefts and is using

the house to fence, that is, to store and sell on stolen property.

The main target that we were looking for is actually here now

with his girlfriend along with a number of other nominals so

they were a little bit agitated to start with

but we've gained control of them, all the occupants are handcuffed

now so it's going well so far.

I've got this one, that one, right, OK.

The first two rooms don't provide any results but they keep searching.

Just be mindful obviously of needles, lads.

Ah, what's that?

Interesting. Hidden behind there.

A digital camera. De-tagger.

Ah. Yes, it is.

It's vitally important that everything that they find is

logged in detail.

We've recovered a number of items including a de-tagger which is

used to remove tags from clothing stores.

To avoid contaminating the evidence they bag up items that

raise their suspicions, including a camera.

There's a receipt in there that shows that it's been

bought by means of a credit card so we should be able to trace

the owner of that through the credit card receipt.

Although we can't say at this minute that the stuff was definitely

stolen, we believe it is - that gives us the grounds to arrest them.

And the suspects are taken away for further questioning.

There's a number of drugs paraphernalia inside,

tinfoil, needles,

so we can also look at closing the place down

as a possible crack-house.

Time to visit property number two.

Ready? I'm just going to pull up here actually.

Police!

Police officers with a search warrant.

Just making let you know we're here, mate.

All right? Cos we need to know who's in here.

Let me explain what's going on.

There are about 15 rooms inside this property

so we've got staff searching those rooms now.

The police carry out a systematic search of the house.

Is there anything in here that's stolen?

They find items that raise their suspicions.

That's an interesting thing, we had one of those nicked,

well, ages ago, but...

One of the males has got three Xboxes

and some other consoles which is a little bit unusual.

You might expect him to have one, possibly two,

but certainly not three or more.

There's a number of tablets as well

in that room which raises our suspicions really -

mobile phones, cameras, we've also recovered four laptop

computers including one Apple Macbook which we're really

interested in, as well as a quantity of Class A from the safe.

One male has been arrested on suspicion of possession

of Class A drugs.

Operation Magpie will be looking into all these items to see if we

can link them and identify them to any crimes - any local burglaries.

We've already found out that one of the items is registered to

somebody different than who's actually living here

so we're hopeful around that one.

All in all, it's been a good day's work.

The three males arrested during the two raids have subsequently been

bailed pending further enquiries and the results of forensic tests.

Meanwhile, the Magpie team continue to investigate

whether the items seized are indeed stolen.

So we'll be looking to investigate this now - reunite them

back to their rightful owners - and that's one of the reasons

that we do this job, it's nice to get stuff back to people.

Police discovered that one of the two seized laptops was registered

to an owner in Teesside, taking note of serial numbers

and registering our treasured items with the manufacturers

and on property register websites such as CheckMEND and Immobilise,

better enables police to reunite people with their stolen items.