Tracker’s total recovery value for the month was £1,161,252.
We made 58 Tracker recoveries which resulted in:
13 arrests
5 chop shops uncovered
27 other non-Tracker fitted vehicles recovered as result of Tracker activations.
To date we have recovered over £596m worth of vehicles.
Theft highlights:
Toyota C-HR Sport – Worth £28,183, recovered from a chop shop in Romford in under 6 hours with 15 other non-Tracker fitted vehicles and 4 arrests made.
Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG – Worth £12,000, stolen from Cambridge, recovered in under 6 hours, 3 arrests made.
Citroen C3 – Worth £16,000, stolen from Hertfordshire, recovered in under an hour, 2 arrests made.
Lexus 250H – Worth £24,925, recovered from Wishaw in under 4 hours with 2 other non-Tracker fitted vehicles.
Toyota RAV4 – Worth 18,000, recovered from London Gateway Docks in under 48 hours with 4 other non-Tracker fitted vehicles .
Kawasaki MULE Pro DX – Worth £22,000, stolen from Radstock, recovered in under 2 hours.
Porsche 911 Carrera – Worth £26,000, recovered from Harpenden in under an hour with 1 other non-Tracker fitted vehicle.
Peugeot 2008 GT – Worth £9,000, stolen from South Yorkshire, recovered in under 7 hours.
Fiat Roller Team Motorhome – Worth £50,000, stolen from Sittingbourne, recovered in under an hour.
Maxus Deliver 9 – Worth £27,000, stolen from Slough, recovered in less than 30 minutes from Tracker activation!
Police in Edinburgh have released CCTV images of three women who they believe may be able to assist them in relation to a missing defibrillator.
The defibrillator was taken from St Leonard’s Police Station, 14 St Leonard’s Street, Edinburgh around 7pm on Monday, 30 October, 2023.
Police Constable Stephen Neilson, Howdenhall Police Station, said: “We believe these women may have information that could assist our enquiries. I would ask anyone who recognises them or has any information to come forward.
“You can contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 3168 of 30 October, 2023. Alternatively Crime stoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
Drugs worth a six-figure sum have been recovered by police in Edinburgh.
Around 11.40 am on Thursday, 11 January 2024, police acting under warrant recovered a quantity of controlled drugs whilst searching addresses in Lochend Quadrant and Lochend Road South, Edinburgh.
The drugs, believed to be diamorphine, crack cocaine and cannabis, have a combined estimated street value of £247,500. A five-figure sum of cash was also recovered.
Two men, aged 57 and 30 years, have been arrested and charged following the find. They are due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today (Friday, 12 January ). A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
Detective Inspector Gavin Howat, Edinburgh Pro-active CID, said: “Officers will continue to disrupt the supply and possession of drugs in our area.
“This work often relies on the support of the public, so if you have any information or concerns about drug misuse, please call Police Scotland on 101 or report this anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
A third person has been arrested and charged in connection with the death of a 38-year-old local man in Granton on Hogmanay.
The 33-year-old woman was arrested yesterday (Monday, 8 January) and has now been charged. She is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court tomorrow (Wednesday, 10 January).
Emergency services were called around 11.50pm on Sunday, 31 December, 2023, after a firearm was discharged outside the Anchor Inn in West Granton Road.
Two men, aged 38 and 39, were taken to hospital . The 38-year-old man, Marc Webley, was pronounced dead a short time later. The other man remains in hospital.
A 32-year-old man and 25-year-old woman have already been arrested and charged in connection with the incident.
Both appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday (Monday, 8 January). Grant Hunter and Emma McVie made no plea and have been remanded in custody.
Two people – a 32-year-old man and 25-year-old woman – have been arrested and charged in connection with the death of a 38-year-old man in Granton. They are due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday (8 January).
Emergency services were called around 11.50pm on Sunday, 31 December, 2023, after a firearm was discharged in West Granton Road, seriously injuring two men.
Both men, aged 38 and 39, were taken to hospital, where the 38-year-old man – named locally as Marc Webley – was pronounced dead a short time later. The other man remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Enquiries are ongoing and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.
A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
Two people have been arrested in connection with the death of a 38-year-old man in West Granton.A 32-year-old man and 25-year-old woman have been arrested in connection with the shooting.
Emergency services were called around 11.50pm on Sunday, 31 December, 2023, after a firearm was discharged in West Granton Road, seriously injuring two men.
Both men, aged 38 and 39, were taken to hospital, where the 38-year-old man was pronounced dead a short time later. The dead man has been named locally as Marc Webley.
Enquiries are ongoing and police continue to appeal for information.
Detective Superintendent Graham Grant, Major Investigation Team, said: “We’d like to thank the local community for their support and patience while enquiries are ongoing.
“There will continue to be an increased police presence in the area and anyone with further concerns should speak to officers, call 101, or in the case of an emergency, 999.”
Organisations that support victims of crime have been awarded a total of £405,451 from a fund financed by penalties imposed on offenders who received a court fine.
Eight organisations – including Victim Support Scotland, Dumbarton District Women’s Aid, Migrant Help, The Moira Fund, The Manda Centre, Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland (SOHTiS), Action Against Stalking and Dundee Women’s Aid – will share the funding to provide practical help directly to victims.
This is the fourth round of payments from the Victim Surcharge Fund, which was established in November 2019, and takes the latest funding to £1,322,437.
Victims and Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown said: “I am pleased the fund has provided support to so many people.
“Since financial awards were first made in January 2021, 14 different victim support organisations have benefited from this fund – all of which have used the money to help people impacted by crime.
“It is only right that the people who commit crimes should pay towards helping those impacted to recover from the trauma and move on with their lives.”
Kate Wallace, Chief Executive of Victim Support Scotland, said: “Funding to VSS Emergency Assistance Fund made it possible to reach more than 1,400 victims of crime and their families with awards last year totalling over £400,000.
“Too many people face financial hardship as a result of crime, and this funding allows us to cover the costs of essential items such as food vouchers, rent, property repairs, alarms and funeral costs.”
The following organisations are set to benefit from the Victim Surcharge Fund in this round:
Victim Support Scotland (VSS) £300,000
Dumbarton District Women’s Aid £11,750
Migrant Help £28,540
The Moira Fund £14,500
The Manda Centre £10,000
Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland (SOHTIS) £20,661
Detectives are appealing for information following a serious assault in Edinburgh city centre.
About 3.30am on Monday, 1 January, 2024 two men were seriously assaulted in Rose Street, Edinburgh at it’s junction with Frederick Street by a group of men and women.
The men who suffered head and facial injuries were taken to hospital for treatment.
Detective Constable Gary Lipscombe from Edinburgh CID said “This was a brutal attack and it is imperative that we trace the people responsible and are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time.
“We know there was a pedestrian who would have witnessed this assault and may have information that can help us. I would also appeal to the people who stopped and provided first aid to the two injured men.”
Anyone with any information, or footage of the incident, should contact Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident 1142 of Monday, 1 January 2024. Alternatively, a call can be made anonymously to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
POLICE are urging bike owners to ensure their cycles are registered on a national database to help ensure they can be reunited with them if they are lost or stolen.
The Bike Register database contains the details of tens of thousands bicycles from across the UK and for the last year Police Scotland officers have had access to the database via a downloadable app on their mobile devices.
Recently, four successful bike recoveries have been made as a result of the app and bike marking.
In the first instance, a member of the public in Edinburgh found a bicycle and used the app they had on their phone to establish it had been registered as lost. The owner was found to have moved from the Capital to Woking and was reunited with the bike.
Local officers in Lancashire also came across a stolen bike being sold on Facebook Marketplace in the course of their inquiries and by utilising the app on their mobile devices, they confirmed it was registered to an address in the Currie area of Edinburgh. The bike was again, returned to its rightful owner.
In the last two weeks, police in the Wester Hailes area of Edinburgh have returned two bikes to their owners after both were found and handed into the police station. Utilising the app, the cycles were both confirmed as stolen and then handed back to those they belong to.
Any officer who locates a bike they believe may be lost or stolen can access the database via the app, and scan a visible bar code or enter property details to check to see if it has been registered. If so, they can then find out whether the status is set to lost or stolen, and who the registered owner is.
It is anticipated that hundreds of new bikes will have been purchased or received over Christmas, many worth large sums of money. Owners of bikes, both new and old, are urged to ensure their cycle’s details are logged on the database.
Inspector Jordan Low from Police Scotland’s Rural and Acquisitive Crime Team, said: “We know that for many in Scotland, bikes are not just an important recreational item, they are a vital mode of transportation or exercise and to have them lost or stolen can be devastating.
“I would ask that all bike owners ensure their bicycles’ details are logged on the Bike Register database, as this will aid us during our inquiries whenever we locate any bikes that we believe to be stolen, or that are brought into police stations as lost property.
“The recent successful recoveries highlight just how important the database is in order to reunite bikes with their rightful owners and the app available to officers on their mobile device is another useful tool in helping us tackle bike theft across the country.”
Householders across Scotland are being reminded not to let their festive clear outs add to waste crime by inadvertently giving their waste to criminals.
From unregistered individuals with a van advertising on social media, to serious and organised crime gangs, criminals see waste as a money-making enterprise and Scots could be unknowingly adding to the problem.
The landfill tax for household waste is currently £102.10 per tonne (for standard rate), and legitimate operators need to pay for permits and infrastructure, amongst other overheads, to operate environmentally sound sites that are compliant with regulations.
Waste dumped illegally in laybys, rural locations or holes in the ground instead of being recycled or disposed of in the correct manner means criminals are avoiding having to pay the costs a legal operator has to. Instead, the cost to clean-up abandoned waste is usually left to local authorities or landowners.
Additionally, waste dumped or burned means the opportunity for recycling or re-use of valuable materials could be lost.
Out of sight not out of mind
Criminals are resourceful, inventive and will find new ways to break the law – especially with a cash incentive. This includes amongst others – flytipping, burying waste in fields, burning of waste, cramming it into warehouses and even 40ft old HGV trailers.
Jennifer Shearer, SEPA’s Head of Enforcement said: “Illegal operators often hide what they plan to do with waste they collect, which can lead to fly-tipping in communities or large-scale disposal on private land. The first line of defence is stopping criminals getting their hands on waste in the first place.
“Services that sound too good to be true often are – and could lead to your waste being illegally fly-tipped. If you’re planning a clear out, you can help tackle waste crime by refusing to engage the services of people that are not authorised.
“Remember, if they dispose of it illegally and we can trace the waste back to you – you can be held to account and prosecuted or fined as well. A legitimate operator should be able to tell you their SEPA waste carrier licence number and the exact location your waste will be taken to. If they won’t provide those two pieces of information don’t give them your waste.”
Don’t support waste crime
Top four Dos and Don’ts of Household Waste Disposal
DO use common sense. If you are approached out of the blue with an offer to dispose of your waste so quickly and cheaply it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
DON’T entrust your waste to someone if they are unable to tell you basic information like their waste carrier registration number and the named site they are taking the waste to.
DO take responsibility for who you give waste to – if illegally disposed of waste is traced back to you then you could face enforcement action too.
DO check that the company you are thinking of hiring to remove your waste is registered with SEPA
Landowners must be alert to the risk of their land or premises being used for illegal waste deposits and trailer or vehicle owners should also be aware of the risk of theft for use in illegal waste disposal activities.
Report suspicious sites and behaviours to SEPA 24 hours a day, seven days a week through our pollution hotline online or by calling 0800 80 70 60.
