Episode 3 Thief Trackers


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Transcript


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Bag snatchers, robberies and street crime.

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More than 3,500 incidents of theft

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are reported every day in the UK.

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But what happens to our belongings when they are stolen?

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Thief Trackers shows how they're taken and where they go.

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Excuse me, mate. Excuse me.

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Hiding trackers inside items like cameras,

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smartphones and bicycles

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to trace the thieves' every move.

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There he is, there he is, there he is.

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The crooks think they've got away with it,

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but we've got them under surveillance.

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I think it was you who took it. No, man.

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Using undercover footage, CCTV and tracking technology,

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we'll uncover the unseen journey our belongings take when they're stolen,

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and we'll shine a light on how easy we make it for thieves

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to plunder our prized possessions.

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My van's gone.

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Today, the thief trackers are on the trail of a bicycle thief.

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Keep your eyes peeled.

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He's moving around really erratically.

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And discover they are not the only victims of bike crime.

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Someone else has fallen foul.

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It's a big lock, as well.

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And using the latest tracking technology,

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one man is on the case of moped snatchers.

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We've got to try and catch him and get him off the street

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and get this bike back as soon as we can.

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Plus, trackers are in hot pursuit of van thieves

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and uncover a horde of stolen goods.

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Seats, bumpers, everything from stripped Transit vans.

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Here on Thief Trackers, we have seen first-hand how vulnerable

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our bicycles are to snatch thieves.

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And how they can be stolen with relative ease, even when locked up.

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Estimates for 2016 suggest one bike was stolen every 90 seconds

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and with 72% of reported cases closed, with no suspect identified,

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the thieves are getting away with it.

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Helping thief trackers with our investigation

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is former Detective Chief Superintendent Sue Hill,

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who has spent over 30 years tackling crime on the streets of the capital.

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A bike can take seconds to be stolen.

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Someone will come along, opportunist.

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Before you know it, they're on some website being sold

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and you never get your bike back.

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We know that 400,000 bikes a year are stolen

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and yet of those 400,000 bikes,

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only 5% are ever recovered and returned to the owner.

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We bought some bikes like this one here

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and fitted them with GPS trackers.

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If they're stolen, we can track the bike and the criminals.

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On stakeout is the Thief Trackers' undercover team.

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For their safety, you won't see them, but you'll hear their voices...

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Get the tracker out. If we're going to do this, we'll do it now.

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..as they follow the thieves' every move.

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The team set up their stakeout on the edge of a housing estate in

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Cambridge, securing the bike to railings with a heavy-duty bike lock.

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The tracker is live.

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Time to watch and wait.

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The bike is in a busy spot, with plenty of people walking past.

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It may be broad daylight, but it's still attracting attention.

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This man checks it out, too.

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This guy's having a nice, long look.

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A little raised eyebrow there.

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A group of lads have a good look.

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But carry on past.

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Night starts to fall and under the cover of darkness,

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your bike is more exposed.

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Looks like this cyclist has taken an interest.

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This guy's interested and I think he may actually try and take the bike.

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He's clearly up to something.

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He's gone into his bag.

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I think he's probably trying to get some tools out.

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After a few minutes, he's found what he was looking for -

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a pair of pliers or cutters.

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OK, so everyone be prepared to move when this happens.

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I think he's going to try and cut it off.

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Yep, he's fiddling with the lock.

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He's definitely looking at it.

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You can just hear the sound of pliers clipping at the cable.

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The guy has been working at it for a little while here,

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at least 40 seconds, possibly longer.

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The lock is giving him a challenge.

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He's determined.

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He sees some people, so he's just casually waiting, I think,

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till they disperse.

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I think he's checking no-one is watching.

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Hopefully he's not clocked us.

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A couple of kids, is it?

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I think they're going to pass and he's going to go for it.

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He's determined. He's still trying to cut the lock.

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This is one of the longest thefts of bike I've seen, actually.

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OK, someone else has arrived.

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They've just came from behind our production vehicle.

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He's passed over some tools.

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Is this the accomplice now there's getting involved?

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Our clumsy crook acts as lookout,

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passing lock-cutting duties to his friend.

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But the accomplice isn't doing any better.

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The first man tries again.

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They don't seem too worried about hiding what they're up to.

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The lock has beaten them and the two chancers give up.

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More interested in what they're having for tea.

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Well, it made me giggle, I have to say, seeing those two people.

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They're more interested in their chips.

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The pliers weren't very good,

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but I'll tell you what they had in abundance,

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stupidity, cos between the two of them,

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they couldn't get that bike off the railings.

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However, they were intent, they wanted to steal that bike.

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With the right lock or a combination of locks,

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your bike will be a lot safer.

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When you do lock up your bike, don't use a flimsy lock.

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If it's an expensive bike, you want to keep that bike.

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Lock the wheel and the frame.

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I've just seen a bike that is locked with three locks.

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The chances are, that bike is going nowhere.

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Later on, our undercover team mount another surveillance operation and

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we'll see what happens when a more expert thief gets his hands on our bike.

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2016 saw an increase in motorbike ownership.

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Around 40% of those new bikes were scooters or mopeds,

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with more and more people taking wheels for their commute to work.

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But these high-value machines make a tempting target for criminals and

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over 1,500 are stolen each month in the capital alone.

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As less than 20% of stolen motorbikes are recovered,

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people are turning to tracking companies like Richard Taylor's,

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who use the latest technology to trace stolen property

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and get it back.

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Today, Richard is tracking a scooter stolen in North London.

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This owner uses his scooter in London every single day

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so it's really important he gets his scooter back

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as urgently as possible.

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Richard follows the scooter's GPS tracking signal on a map,

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as you would with a car sat nav.

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SATNAV: Turn left on Seven Sisters Road.

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We've got a GPS in N7 area,

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but it's round the back of some flats or round the back of a building,

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so we can't pinpoint it to an exact residence.

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To do that, he uses a radio wave scanner.

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It's like a distress signal,

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and that will help guide us in to where the bike is hidden.

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MACHINE BEEPS

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And this could be it.

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Yeah, I can hear it. Can you hear it?

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This game of hide and seek with the crooks requires a lot of patience.

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There is a scooter there, but there is no signal coming from that one.

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Definitely not the bike.

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The RF signal has gone out of range,

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which means the scooter is on the move again,

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but all is not lost.

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The GPS picks up the route and the hunt is back on.

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The tracking data shows the bike heading east through London.

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Richard knows time isn't on his side.

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It's not actually good news at this point.

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Normally if they're on the move, they're going to be

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possibly stripped down for spare parts and sold.

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Although he is tracking the stolen scooter back and forth across London,

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he knows he has to keep his distance.

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Sometimes these stolen scooters are doing 5 or 6mph,

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sometimes these stolen scooters are doing 60mph.

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You can't risk the lives of these lads by chasing them

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or making them do something stupid.

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At the end of the day, we just want to get the scooter back for the customer.

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Then Richard gets surprising news from his client.

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Unbelievable.

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Unbelievable.

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I just had to call the owner of the stolen bike just to let him know we are still on the case

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and he's just told me he believes he's seen his bike

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just go past him in the street with two other scooters.

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Um, some nippers, 14, 15 years of age,

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and he tried to just talk to them and they rode off.

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We've got to try and catch 'em and get them off the street and get this

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bike back as soon as we can.

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The tracking data shows the scooter thieves aren't far away,

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and Richard is right behind them.

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I feel like the net is closing.

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We're just picking up the RF now, we're a few hundred yards away.

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It just means we're going in the right direction.

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That should get louder and louder.

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He's led to a housing estate

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and now the radio wave scanner pinpoints the bike.

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The louder the bleeps, the closer they are.

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It's a game of cat and mouse as Richard drives around the estate

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trying to zone in on the scooter.

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And he may have found it.

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It's in an alleyway.

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We don't know who is going to be behind there.

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Even though it's daytime, it looks pretty safe and serene

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and no problem, but I'd rather have the police in attendance.

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POLICE: Emergency, which service?

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Police, please. Police, thank you.

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It's not long before reinforcements arrive.

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Was it you that called us in? Yes, yes.

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I'm Richard, I'm from the tracking company.

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As the scooter is on private property,

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the trackers need the police to gain access and as backup

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in case the thieves are still about.

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Sure enough, the tracker leads them straight to the stolen scooter.

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With a spate of drive-by snatch thefts in London,

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it's possible this scooter has been stolen to use in other crimes.

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The police recover the bike to check it out for prints and DNA.

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We've arranged for a forensic lift of this moped because it's stolen.

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We need to obviously preserve any evidence,

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so things like the handlebars will be swabbed.

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This will be one happy owner who will soon have their scooter back,

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glad they had a tracker installed.

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We've gone right up to the bike,

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identified the bike and after a few hours of being given the runaround,

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we're here on top, so that's great.

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Earlier on, we saw the importance of using a heavy-duty bike lock

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to deter would-be bike thieves.

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The Thief Trackers undercover team are mounting another covert operation.

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The team set up this stakeout on the corner of a busy street,

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locking the bike to a lamppost.

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The tracker in the bike is live.

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Time to watch and wait.

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This area is a popular site for cyclists to leave their bikes,

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chaining them up to railings and lamp posts.

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Even in broad daylight and chained up,

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our bicycles are vulnerable to seasoned crooks.

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This guy is interested.

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Was that a call, was that a nod?

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Seconds later, this man arrives and checks out the bike.

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He crosses the road and is walking the other way.

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However, he's back again, wandering about,

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and shortly after he comes back across the road toward the bikes.

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He's looking around, acting suspiciously,

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scoping out the various bikes.

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He's not gone for long.

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He's back again and makes a beeline for our bike.

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This time, he succeeds.

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The Thief Trackers spring into action,

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hot on the heels of the bike snatch.

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OK, so as you've just seen, the bike has been taken.

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We're going to try and follow it now.

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The bike's GPS signal shows the thief is weaving through

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the back streets, probably in case he's followed.

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Keep going down here.

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The team are right behind the thief, but this crook knows the area.

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OK. Yeah. Has he taken a cycle route?

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Possibly. Damn it. OK, let's go back to the main road then.

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Yeah. OK, so he's heading towards Haggerston Park.

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The tracking signal now shows the thief taking a meandering route

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through a park close to where he stole the bike.

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The team look for a way closer to the park,

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but are hampered by dead ends.

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Get out on foot?

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Or we can go round the other side of the park.

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He's going to go out the park, realistically, isn't he?

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Let's try in the park.

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The thief may have the local knowledge,

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but the Thief Trackers can keep right on his tail.

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If we lose him, we'll find him again.

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The team go round the park and try and head off the crook.

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The bike snatcher is taking a zigzag route and hasn't left the area yet.

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He's still a stone's throw from where he stole the bike.

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OK, that's where we started.

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The thief has turned off into a side street.

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The team are closing in and now the tracking signal hasn't moved

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for several minutes.

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All right, let's pull in when we get a second. We'll go on foot.

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They have to keep a sharp lookout.

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The thief could be round the next corner.

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Although the signal shows the bike is close by,

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it's nowhere to be seen.

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It's not over yet.

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So the team stakeout the area and wait for the thief to make his move.

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And it's not long before the tracking signal

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kicks into life again.

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Having laid low, the thief is now out in the open

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and the undercover team are right behind him.

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We're going to take a left on Cremer Street.

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OK, go up to Geffrye Street.

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As they close in, the tracking signal comes to a stop

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near a railway bridge.

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So at the moment, it says that our bike

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is in here, this sort of area here.

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The team search the area and they have to be realistic about their

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chances of recovering the bike.

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We're looking for a bike, but it might not be around here.

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It may just be the tracker.

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It's now a real possibility that the thief has discovered

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the tracking device and discarded it.

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Their hopes are raised as they come across a bike rack...

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It's not locked up, is it?

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..and evidence of another bike theft.

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It's definitely none of these.

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Yep.

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The signal indicates the tracker is here,

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but the bike is nowhere to be seen.

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The team have now made their way to an estate,

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which is situated behind the flats that the thief had entered

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just before the bike was stolen, so they know where he might be.

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There's one, two, three, four, five bikes...

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..and not one of them is ours.

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But look how close we are.

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We're seriously close.

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The Thief Trackers make a thorough search of the area,

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looking for the bike or the tracking device.

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Down there. You see that?

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Oh, my gosh.

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That's our tracker.

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Their search comes to an end.

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The thief has discovered the tracker and dumped it.

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He first took it, he went into this building, possibly to get a tool,

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we're not quite sure yet. I feel like he probably lives in here.

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It makes it so much easier if a thief operates in an area

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known to them because they know where the quick escape routes are,

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they know back alleys, they know how to lose someone

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if they're being followed.

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Well, I would suggest that if you have stolen a bike,

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then you've probably got an outlet where you're going to sell it on to,

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and so many bikes never come back and they're probably

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all across Europe and I do believe people are stealing bikes

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to sell on.

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We may not have recovered our bike,

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but we do still have clear footage should the authorities

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wish to take a look at the bike thief in action.

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Vans are the workhorse of many small businesses,

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and a record number were registered in 2016,

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pushing the total figure to over four million on the UK's roads.

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But vans aren't just popular with businesses,

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they're also desirable targets for criminals,

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as over 49,000 were stolen in 2016.

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And if they're key to your company, like at this vehicle rental firm

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in the South West, then theft could cripple the business.

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The fleet is around about 1,000 vehicles in total.

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Theft of a vehicle from our business

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will affect it dramatically.

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To try and combat this kind of crime,

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they invested in tracking devices,

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which were soon put to the test after a break-in.

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We noticed a vehicle had gone missing when one of my

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work colleagues went to go and move it.

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As the yard was constantly monitored,

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they needed to be sure that it had been stolen.

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We checked our CCTV...

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..and realised that it was driven out of our yard in the early hours

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of the morning.

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The thieves made off with ?8,000 worth of truck

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just after four in the morning, thinking they had a head start

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and that they'd covered their tracks.

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The vehicle itself was fitted with two trackers,

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one of which they found and removed and, luckily,

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they didn't find the second one.

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The crooks made their escape, not realising that even though

0:22:420:22:46

they'd got rid of one tracker, another was still monitoring

0:22:460:22:49

their every move.

0:22:490:22:51

I called the police first thing in the morning and then kept

0:22:510:22:53

them updated during the day to advise them when

0:22:530:22:55

the second tracker was reporting.

0:22:550:22:58

The second tracker, known as a sleeper,

0:22:580:23:00

was activated once the vehicle was reported stolen

0:23:000:23:03

and would give updates on its position at intervals

0:23:030:23:06

during the day.

0:23:060:23:07

The tracker was due to give us an update around about

0:23:070:23:10

5.15 in the afternoon,

0:23:100:23:13

so nearly 12 hours after the vehicle went missing.

0:23:130:23:16

This was now an agonising wait for Alex,

0:23:160:23:18

standing by for a location fix on their truck.

0:23:180:23:23

I was unsure where the vehicle was going to pop up across the UK,

0:23:230:23:26

whether it was even going to be in the UK.

0:23:260:23:28

I actually thought I would never see the vehicle again.

0:23:280:23:32

Thankfully, the tracker sprang into life and the signal showed

0:23:320:23:35

the van was now over 100 miles away in Berkshire.

0:23:350:23:39

When the tracker reported in at 5.15,

0:23:390:23:42

the vehicle was parked stationary in Reading.

0:23:420:23:45

Alex decided to call in the tracking company to recover the van

0:23:460:23:50

as soon as possible.

0:23:500:23:51

Director Neil Thomas was straight on the case

0:23:520:23:55

and had a theory about its location -

0:23:550:23:59

parked up in a side street out in the open.

0:23:590:24:01

This could be where the thief had dropped it off as a cooling period.

0:24:020:24:07

The cooling-off period is where the vehicle's been stolen

0:24:070:24:10

and taken to a first location.

0:24:100:24:12

Leave it there, perhaps overnight or maybe for longer than that,

0:24:120:24:15

to make sure that there's no tracking unit in the vehicle.

0:24:150:24:18

They'll either pay somebody to look out for it,

0:24:180:24:20

to see if the police turn up, or to see if the owner itself,

0:24:200:24:23

the company or the person, turns up to recover the vehicle.

0:24:230:24:26

Closer inspection of the area set off alarm bells.

0:24:270:24:31

It was parked next to the premises that was involved in metalwork.

0:24:310:24:35

It looked as though the vehicle could be taken in

0:24:350:24:38

and maybe stripped.

0:24:380:24:39

If Neil was to recover it in one piece, they had to move quickly.

0:24:390:24:43

My advice to the client was, we need to get there as soon as possible.

0:24:430:24:46

The trackers got the go-ahead to try what they call a snatch back.

0:24:460:24:49

Now, a snatch back is where APU go and recover a vehicle for a client,

0:24:520:24:56

usually with a spare key, all times of day or night.

0:24:560:24:59

We liaise with the police, just to make sure they don't think we're

0:24:590:25:02

stealing the car, and we'll turn up and recover the vehicle.

0:25:020:25:05

On the way down to Reading,

0:25:070:25:08

I was told via the Telematic unit the vehicle was back on the move.

0:25:080:25:11

The van was now heading west.

0:25:120:25:14

At this point, I spoke to the office,

0:25:140:25:17

spoke to some colleagues and asked them to track the vehicle,

0:25:170:25:20

live-time tracking.

0:25:200:25:21

We could see where it was on the tracker,

0:25:240:25:25

but we didn't know if it was going to a port,

0:25:250:25:27

whether it was going to be out of the country.

0:25:270:25:29

Some vehicles these days are put into containers and taken abroad,

0:25:290:25:32

we've got experience of that.

0:25:320:25:33

Or whether it was going to be taken to another site to be stripped,

0:25:330:25:36

so I was very keen to get there as soon as possible,

0:25:360:25:39

safely as possible,

0:25:390:25:40

and to try and liaise with the police on the way down there to say,

0:25:400:25:43

"Can you assist us?"

0:25:430:25:44

Time was tight and the van had now moved off the main roads

0:25:450:25:49

onto back roads into the countryside.

0:25:490:25:51

Thanks to the GPS technology,

0:25:540:25:56

the trackers could stay right on the thieves' trail.

0:25:560:25:59

Criminals drive on country lanes in stolen cars because they're less

0:25:590:26:02

likely to be caught on any cameras.

0:26:020:26:04

And the quiet roads, they're less likely to see a police officer.

0:26:040:26:07

If they do come across the police, they know the area,

0:26:070:26:10

they can get out and run across the fields.

0:26:100:26:12

Very difficult to arrange for police to pursue them on.

0:26:120:26:15

The van had changed direction again and was heading south.

0:26:170:26:20

The next update from the tracker was that it moved probably 30 or 40

0:26:240:26:28

miles away from Reading into the farm

0:26:280:26:30

and this farm premises was quite isolated.

0:26:300:26:33

There was a long driveway and it had parked up in a barn on the farm.

0:26:330:26:38

Criminals like to hide stolen vehicles

0:26:390:26:41

in either woodland or barns,

0:26:410:26:43

the sort of place where I know, as an ex-police officer,

0:26:430:26:45

if they're far enough away from the main road,

0:26:450:26:47

they won't get caught by the police

0:26:470:26:50

and also they'll think that the tracking signal will be weak.

0:26:500:26:53

It isn't.

0:26:530:26:54

They had a strong fix on the van's position,

0:26:560:26:59

and as it was stationary, it wasn't long before Neil caught up.

0:26:590:27:02

When we got to the barn, the thief had left.

0:27:040:27:07

There was no-one else there.

0:27:070:27:09

The building was owned by a local farmer.

0:27:090:27:12

It was clear that he was an innocent person.

0:27:120:27:14

He'd rented one of his units out.

0:27:140:27:17

Once they gained access to the building,

0:27:170:27:19

they struck gold and discovered more than they'd bargained for.

0:27:190:27:22

We were able to go in with the police...

0:27:230:27:25

..and we could see the vehicle in there.

0:27:260:27:28

Around the stolen vehicle itself were lots of parts -

0:27:280:27:33

seats, bumpers,

0:27:330:27:34

everything from stripped transit vans, and there was a lot of

0:27:340:27:38

parts from similar vans that looked as if they'd been

0:27:380:27:41

from stolen vehicles.

0:27:410:27:42

With operations like this, it's always fantastic

0:27:440:27:46

to see the vehicle itself.

0:27:460:27:48

It's OK seeing it on a screen.

0:27:480:27:49

However, it's really good to be able to phone a client up and say,

0:27:490:27:53

"I'm in front of your vehicle.

0:27:530:27:55

"Here's a picture of it, and it's safe."

0:27:550:27:57

That's a win for the trackers and one very happy customer.

0:27:570:28:01

The vehicle is back with us and it's all in one piece

0:28:010:28:04

and currently still being used to this day.

0:28:040:28:07

Owen Quine - he's a very famous and good novelist.

0:28:390:28:42

He's gone off before, only this time it's been ten days.

0:28:420:28:45

I'm an investigator. His wife's very worried for him.

0:28:450:28:48

Owen has written a very thinly disguised slandering

0:28:480:28:52

of the people who've tried to help him.

0:28:520:28:54

Quine knew a lot of damaging stuff...

0:28:540:28:55

You're going to have to take on a new investigator.

0:28:550:28:58

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