Ram-raiders steal £200,000 worth of IT kit

Thieves use forklift truck to break into distributor's warehouse

Police are on the lookout for a gang that ram-raided the warehouse of a distributor in Basingstoke, stealing more than £200,000 worth of IT equipment.

The premises of wireless distributor Portable, formerly Portable Add-ons, was broken into between 2.30pm on Saturday 11 January and 12.50am on Sunday 12 January.

Steve Muttram, managing director of Portable, told vnunet.com's sister title Computer Reseller News: "All the communications lines and alarms were cut in the afternoon and the thieves returned that night and broke into the warehouse.

"These guys certainly knew what they were doing. The warehouse was like a fortress and we had plenty of security in place."

According to Muttram, the gang used Portable's forklift truck to penetrate the thick concrete walls of a vault built inside the warehouse, where a range of high-value items, including PDAs, was stored.

Also stolen was equipment from manufacturers including Toshiba, Sony and Sharp and a number of memory modules and components owned by another distributor that shares Portable's warehouse.

"Luckily nobody was injured, which is the main thing, and at the end of the day it was only stock," said Muttram. He added that the firm lost a day's trading and sent an email to customers to explain the situation.

"We were back to normal the next day and all our customers and vendors were very understanding. These things do happen and we can only hope the gang is caught before they do it again," Muttram said.

Hampshire Police, which is investigating the incident, told CRN that there are certain measures IT firms could take to hinder thieves, such as anti ram-raid posts, stricter access control, CCTV, effective lighting and alarm systems.

A police representative said: "It is better if firms don't tell the public where they keep equipment, and using reflective glass in windows will prevent people from looking in."

Anyone with information on the incident should call PC Melanie Gaskell at Basingstoke Police on (0845) 045 4545.