Car stealing device seized as three suspects arrested

A chance sighting led to police recovering a device used to break into vehicles – while they arrested three suspects too.

Response officers were driving through Strelley in the early hours of Monday (2 December) when they saw two people dressed head to toe in black.

Suspecting they could be up to no good, the officers turned their car around, with the duo spotting this move and responding by fleeing from them on foot.

One of the suspects was stopped in Helston Drive moments later, at which point multiple car keys and quantities of cocaine were found when he turned out his pockets.

This happened around 2.15am, with police conducting a search of the area and discovering a vehicle parked in an adjacent street that matched up to one of the seized set of keys.

The car still had its lights on while another man was sitting inside it, with officers seizing the vehicle and detaining the suspect when they suspected they could be involved in criminality. 

While this was going on, a police dog and handler tracked down another suspect who was dressed all in black and had a device in his possession commonly used to gain keyless access to vehicles.

Believing the trio – two men aged 34 and 44 and a 17-year-old boy – were working together to break into cars, they were all arrested on suspicion of conspiring to steal.

The 34-year-old suspect was additionally arrested for possessing Class A drugs.

Sergeant Ashley Butler, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:

“The officers involved in this triple arrest did a great job here in helping prevent what we suspect was a joint effort to break into vehicles in the area. 

“By remaining as vigilant as they were while on patrol in the early hours of the morning, they were able to spot behaviour that aroused their suspicions and then act on it.

“As a direct result of this, we were able to seize a device commonly used by thieves to break into locked vehicles, while making three arrests in the process.

“This incident should serve as a good example of exactly why our officers go out in the community to conduct our patrols, no matter the time of day or night.”