Three suspects have been arrested in recent days following a break-in at a home in East Leake, Rushcliffe, where a BMW was taken.
The car key burglary was reported to police in the early hours of Sunday (27 September) morning, officers tracked down and recovered the stolen vehicle a few hours later outside Nottinghamshire.
The force’s newly established Op Eclipse team conducted the necessary inquiries to guide Leicestershire officers towards the location of the stolen BMW within the neighbouring county.
Two suspects, a 20-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man were both arrested for conspiring to commit burglary, before a third suspect, an 18-year-old man was arrested a day later (28 September) on suspicion of burglary.
Detective Sergeant Andrea Brown said:
“As these three arrests showed, the fact this offence took place within our county didn’t stand in the way of positive action being taken as quickly as it was,”
“The new Op Eclipse team has been set up with the primary purpose of focusing on serious acquisitive offences – like burglaries – that are committed across force borders or are part of a crime series.
“Taking this case as an example, by working closely with our policing colleagues in Leicestershire, we were able to zero in on the location of a vehicle stolen during a car key burglary and return it to its rightful owner, while making multiple arrests in the process.”
Last Sunday’s break-in wasn’t the only incident of its kind being investigated by the new Nottinghamshire Police team, however, with a similar burglary taking place on Monday (29 September) at another address in East Leake.
On that occasion, the homeowner disturbed the intruders after being woken up around 5.20am to find someone holding a set of car keys, which they then dropped before fleeing the scene empty-handed.
Inquiries are currently ongoing to locate those responsible, with DS Brown urging people to be extra vigilant in keeping their property safely secured as the darker nights start to draw in.
She added:
“While there is no suggestion at this stage that these two break-ins are linked, our advice to residents would be to please ensure you double-check that the doors to your vehicles are locked.
“Burglars rely heavily on opportunities presenting themselves to do what they do, so we’d recommend homeowners do whatever they can to make life harder for these thieves, including moving car keys away from doors, where they can be more easily accessed.
“Tackling serious acquisitive crime – whether that’s break-ins, robberies, or other offences – remains a key priority for our police force, which we hope the establishment of our new cross-border crime team illustrates to people.”
