Police hunt sweet

Release time：2024-05-21 06:42:05 Source：Culture Compass news portal

Police are hunting the sweet-toothed thieves who stole £134,000 worth of Kinder Bueno chocolate bars from an industrial estate. 

The suspects stole the confectionary by hooking a trailer full of tens of thousands of the bars to a lorry and driving off. 

Police said the thieves had brought the vehicle to the Gillibrands Industrial Estate, in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, at around 3am on March 17 this year.

Then after attaching the trailer full of the Kinder Bueno bars, they took it to Simonswood, in Merseyside, where the cargo was loaded onto another vehicle.

Officers eventually found the missing empty trailer in nearby Rainford.

Police are hunting the sweet-toothed thieves who stole £134,000 worth of Kinder Bueno chocolate bars from an industrial estate

Police said the thieves had bought the vehicle to the Gillibrands Industrial Estate, in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, at around 3am on March 17 this year

Then after attaching the trailer full of the Kinder Bueno bars, they took it to Simonswood, in Merseyside, where the cargo was loaded onto another vehicle. Pictured: Gillibrands Industrial Estate

PC Holly Bennett, from Lancashire Police, said: 'This is a significant commercial theft, and I would appeal to anyone who saw anything suspicious either in the area around the industrial estate or the area where the load has been transferred or the trailer has been abandoned to get in touch.' 

Anyone with information should call the force on 101, quoting log 0353 of March 17 or contact independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The theft comes after a man was jailed last year for stealing 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs. 

Joby Pool, 32, used a metal grinder to break into an industrial unit on February 11, 2023, before driving off with the goods worth more than £31,000. 

The unit belonged to SW Group Logistics in Stafford Park in Telford, Shropshire. 

The stolen chocolate was then driven onto the northbound M42, where Pool surrendered by walking towards police 'with his hands up' near junction 11. 

The haul of over 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs was estimated to be worth more than £31,000

Pool, 32, used a metal grinder to break into an industrial unit before driving off with the lorry full of chocolates

The theft occurred at a unit belonging to SW Group Logistics in Stafford Park, Telford

Pool was jailed for 18 months in July last year after he admitted theft, criminal damage to a lock at the trailer park and driving without insurance.

In a series of tweets posted two days after the theft, West Mercia Police explained how they 'helped save Easter' after foiling the thief.

They said: 'West Mercia Police has helped save Easter for Creme Egg fans after almost 200,000 of the chocolate treats were stolen from a unit in Stafford Park in Telford.

'The eggs-travagent theft took place on Saturday February 11 with the chocolate collection box thought to be worth around £40,000.

'Along with the Creme Eggs a number of other chocolate varieties were also stolen.

'Shortly after the theft a vehicle, presumably purporting to be the Easter bunny, was stopped northbound on the M42 and a man was arrested on suspicion of theft.'

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