Police appeal after Northamber raid

Hampshire police have asked resellers to help them catch a gang of IT thieves by watching out for a batch of low-priced laptops.

Hampshire police have asked resellers to help them catch a gang of IT thieves by watching out for a batch of low-priced laptops.

The warning comes after more than £200,000 worth of IT equipment was stolen from the Hampshire warehouse of distributor Northamber last weekend.

Burglars forced open the entrance-gate padlock to the Ripley warehouse on Sunday night and made off with 200 laptops. Most of these were HP Omnibooks and IBM Notepads.

During the break-in, the thieves cut through local telephone lines, disrupting service to more than 2,000 homes in the area.

The thieves piled their haul into an articulated lorry parked near the warehouse before making their getaway. The lorry, a Volvo Box Van with 'Hunt' written on the side, was later found abandoned near Heathrow Airport.

"We are hoping that anyone in the IT community offered a laptop or batch of bargain-priced laptops in suspicious circumstances will come forward with information to help us catch the thieves," a Hampshire Constabulary representative said.

This incident should act as a warning and prompt similar companies to tighten security and be extra vigilant, the representative added.

Phil O'Connor, director of operations at Ingram Micro, said that given the nature of the industry, distributors will always be a popular target for thieves. "Because of the value of the products we deal with, distributors will always be at risk from burglars," he said.

O'Connor added that Ingram Micro moved last year to new premises with 24-hour security and CCTV cameras as part of its improved security measures.

Despite a number of requests from CRN, no-one at Northamber was available to comment on the burglary.

First published in Computer Reseller News