02/09/2009 - Crooks 'make money on machinery'
Lack of regulation in the sale and use of heavy machinery has led crooks to launder vast sums of dirty cash in a "low-risk and high-reward crime", industry experts claim.
According to the information collected by the National Plant and Equipment Register, crime bosses are selling stolen machinery, including record numbers of tractors, quad bikes and forklift trucks to make profits, some of which comes with six-figure price tags.
As many as 3,678 pieces of plant equipment worth an estimated £36 million were stolen last year, a national report shows.
Tim Purbrick, manager of the National Plant and Equipment Register, said: "The used equipment trade is like a huge money laundering machine where criminals push stolen equipment into the trade at one end and get clean cash out at the other.
"Serious organised criminals probably make more money out of equipment theft for far less risk than they do from smuggling drugs."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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