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Ukraine war driving rural crime wave in UK

Machinery theft in England and Wales soared by more than 300 per cent in the first quarter of the year - SolStock/E+
Machinery theft in England and Wales soared by more than 300 per cent in the first quarter of the year - SolStock/E+

The war in Ukraine is causing a crime wave in rural Britain as gangs steal farm machinery investigators believe is being sent to Russia.

Moscow was hit by Western sanctions after Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion, which has created a thriving black market in the equipment, police said.

Gangs used to target arable regions in eastern England but are now also targeting farms in the North and Scotland, as rural crime has rapidly increased this year.

“In my professional opinion, without doubt the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia are having an impact on rural crime in the UK,” said Supt Andy Huddleston, the head of the National Rural Crime Unit.

“Whenever you have a country that cannot import machinery and equipment, the black market will flourish,” he said.

Machinery theft in England and Wales soared by more than 300 per cent in the first quarter of the year, and has also risen in the rest of Europe.

Supt Huddlestone said: “We would normally expect to see around 70 high-value agricultural vehicles being stolen across the country each month but in March we recorded the theft of 180.”

Smuggling into Russia

Agricultural and construction machines – such as excavators and expensive, portable GPS units for mapping fields and making crop planting more efficient – are prized by the raiders, who send their spoils to Eastern Europe to be smuggled into Russia.

Agricultural machinery giants such as John Deere and Dutch company Lely stopped shipments to Russia and Belarus after Putin’s invasion. The Russian army raided a John Deere factory in Ukraine in the first weeks of the war as farmers struggled to get vital spare parts.

Rural crime was already a problem in Britain, with the majority of stolen equipment sold abroad, but the increase in numbers and the fact that organised criminals now travel the length and breadth of Britain are recent developments.

“The numbers that we are seeing at the moment are way beyond what has gone on in the past and so it is clear in my view that what is happening in Ukraine is driving it,” Supt Huddleston said.

NFU Mutual has issued a warning ahead of the harvest season, when equipment is often left overnight in fields and is more vulnerable to thefts.

Drone surveillance

“Intelligence suggests these criminal gangs are watching farms and using drones in some cases to identify farm equipment fitted with GPS and return at night,” said Rebecca Davidson, rural affairs specialist at NFU Mutual.

Reports of GPS thefts to the rural insurance company hit their second-highest monthly level on record in April.

The cost of such thefts has doubled to more than half a million pounds in the first four months of the year, compared to the same period last year.

On Monday, the National Farmers Union, NFU Mutual and representatives from 40 police forces met to discuss the crime wave sweeping rural Britain.

As well as the surge in machinery and equipment thefts, there have been reports of livestock rustling and industrial fly-tipping.

David Exwood, the National Farmers Union vice-president, said that the “highly organised” gangs were hurting “farm businesses, farming families and rural communities, both financially and emotionally”.

The National Rural Crime Network has been set up to improve coordination between forces and farmers at regional and national level.