A business owner was left reeling after smash and grab thieves made off with more than £15,000 worth of stock. The thieves broke down the rear door using a sledge hammer before making away with hundreds of brass bars from Meditech which is located at the Bluebridge Industrial Estate.
The thieves arrived in two cars, a Mondeo ST200 and a black Ford Transit van. They then proceeded to break down the door before loading the valuable bars into the van. Chris Buckenham, the managing director for Meditech has asked residents in the area to look out for either of the two vehicles. The licence plates used by the thieves during the incident have been determined to be fake.
Mr Buckenham has described the situation as a nightmare and said that it had been extremely frustrating. He adds that they had gone through the trouble of putting state-of-the-art CCTV cameras after the previous incident but these made no difference at all since the thieves just swore at the cameras before they left. He complained that although this sort of thing was expected and is one of the hazards when venturing onto an industrial estate, the situation was now starting to feel silly.
Mr Buckenham opines that thieves might be local since they seemed to have a very good knowledge of the area and new that they could take five minutes to get through the door and still manage to get away. He is hoping that someone will be able to recognise the car to prevent the incident from happening again in the future. This is the second time in six months that the company, which manufactures medical equipment, has been targeted. Other businesses in the area have also been victims of theft and this has led to concerns about the level of security of the site.
Buckenham stated that the regularity of the theft was unusual for an industrial estate and it was important that something be done. He added that anybody could drive in or out of the estate whether it was during the day or during the night and assess the area. He added that there were many big businesses in the area with a lot of valuable stock and many were now concerned. A spokesman for the Essex Police stated that the police were appealing for more information from anyone regarding the incident. Anyone with information should get in touch with PC James Vandecar from the Braintree Police Station.