N.Z. LAMB STOLEN

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32322, 13 June 1970, Page 40

N.Z. LAMB STOLEN

<N Z P A. Staff Correspondent) , ; LONDON, June 12. A consignment of New Zealand lamb worth more than $lB,OOO, which was stolen in Lancashire last Friday, may be on the Continent by now, according to British police. Thieves stole the consignment of 600 prime lamb car-

cases by driving a lorry and trailer away from the yard of Duke Haulage Contractors, I Ltd, of Bootle, on the out- : skirts of Liverpool. The truck and trailer were! found abandoned two days, later at Southend-on-Sea, a seaside town near London more than 300 miles by road from Bootle. But there was no sign of the lamb, in spite of a substantial search by Liverpool and Southend detectives.

i The consignment had been collected by Duke Haulage [from the Liverpool docks on | the afternoon of last Friday, land was left overnight in the [firm’s yard in Bootle. The nightwatchman left the yard at 11 p.m. and the thieves must have stolen the load soon after, because it was seen about two hours drive away from Liverpool at 2 a.m. However, roadblocks and police checks on motorways were not established until the morning, when a driver arriving at the yard to collect the lamb, reported it missing. Police said nothing was seen of the truck and its 22ftlong insulated trailer until it was found abandoned at Southend-on-Sea two days later.

“We are following two leads but we have not recovered any of the lamb,” detectives said today. “It could have gone over|seas. The trailer was found pretty close to Tilbury docks. We don’t think it was disposed of in Liverpool. “And we don’t think it has been hawked round to i butchers’ shops because there lis 10 tons of it. It would cerItainly be noticed if that I much meat hit a local market." The consignment was marked Thomas Borthwick and Sons, Ltd, and was due to be driven to Edinburgh for distribution.