Stansted Airport thefts: Takeley man among three arrested after £23,000 of goods recovered

A Takeley man was among three arrested after goods worth £23,000 were recovered as part of an ongoing operation to target theft at Stansted Airport.

In March, officers in the airport’s neighbourhood policing team from Essex Police received reports of thefts of perfume and tobacco.

Following several lines of enquiry and building up an intelligence picture of the offences, officers were able to identify when the next thefts were expected to take place. Early on Monday (April 7) they arrested three suspects.

A 33-year-old man from Takeley and two other men, aged 41 and 33, from Braintree were arrested on suspicion of theft. They have been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

In addition to tobacco, cigarettes and perfume worth £9,000 found in the trio’s possession, searches of the men’s addresses yielded another £14,000 of goods believed to be stolen.

A total of 432 packets of cigarettes, 311 pouches of tobacco and 27 bottles of perfume were recovered, as well as £1,000 in cash at one of the addresses.

Inspector Tom Stokes said: “This is a huge volume of stolen goods kept out of criminals’ hands.

“It shows the hard work carried out by our officers at the airport to protect businesses and the public.”