Equipment theft falls in the UK

Plant theft in the UK fell by almost 20% in 2006, according to The National Plant and Equipment Register (TER), the organisation that maintains the largest equipment register in the country.

TER reported that more than 3,500 items valued at more than UK£31 million (US$ 60 million) were stolen in 2006, compared to 4,324 items valued at £43 million ($85 million) in 2005.

“Although this is a signi ficant drop, plant theft is still a widespread serious organised criminal activity, often directly linked to the funding of terrorist groups,”said Purbrick. “There is still a long way to go and many serious issues still need to be addressed.”

Despite the drop in reported thefts, the recovery rate for thefts is still very low, with an estimated 95% of stolen items never recovered.

TER, which is soon to open new offices in the Netherlands and Germany, has 550,000 items valued at £2.6 billion ($5 billion) on its database.