Nottinghamshire Police officers track down stolen 4x4s to Newark woodland following spate of thefts
Officers have recovered dozens of stolen 4x4s following extensive searches in the countryside around Newark.
Last summer, on average a Land Rover or Range Rover was stolen every 10 days across the region.
Between February and October 2024 alone, there were 40 separate reports of these 4x4s and SUVs being taken.
To date, Newark officers have now managed to recover 22 of these vehicles — while reports of similar thefts have reduced significantly, with just three reports over the last three months.
A large numbers of the stolen cars were found hidden or abandoned at various locations in and around Newark, such as woodland.
Officers used a range of tactics to recover the vehicles and return them to their owners, including the use of drones to fly over areas, trawling through social media for information, and speaking to landowners and farmers.
After gathering this intelligence, members of the neighbourhood policing team then put in the steps, walking through miles of countryside to find the vehicles.
PC Lydia Day, said: “We’ve managed to track down these cars to all sorts of different hiding places, including ones that had been dumped in the middle of nowhere and submerged within bushes.
“All kinds of tactics have been used by our teams to reunite these vehicles with their owners – from drone flyovers, to liaising with local council workers, and speaking to farmers to see if they’d spotted anything suspicious.
“Our officers have put so much time, energy and steps into finding these cars, with miles upon miles trodden through rural woodland, hills and fields.
“The end result has seen us recover more than half the Land Rovers and Range Rovers reported stolen, while the number of vehicle thefts has dropped significantly as well, which is really pleasing to see.
“Despite this, however, we know there’s still an ongoing risk of these thefts happening, so we’d encourage owners of Land Rovers and other 4x4s to remain vigilant to make it as hard as possible for thieves to target their vehicles.”
