PETERBOROUGH, England — A car sitting unusually low on the A16 caught the attention of police and led officers to more than £5,000 worth of suspected stolen food and household goods.
Cambridgeshire Police said its Rural Crime Action Team spotted the vehicle during an operation between Peterborough, Crowland and Spalding on Friday. Officers stopped the car at about 2pm BST.
A 39-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of theft and handling stolen goods.
399 chocolate packs among £5,000 haul
Police said officers found 399 packs of chocolate, 58 bottles of olive oil and 14 tins of tuna inside the vehicle. Large quantities of coffee, cheese and chorizo were also recovered, along with cleaning products.
Photographs released by Cambridgeshire Police showed bags packed into the boot and stacks of food, dairy products, nuts and household supplies after the items were removed.
The quantity of chocolate made the seizure particularly unusual. Large food shipments have attracted thieves elsewhere too, including a case involving about 413,000 KitKat bars stolen during a 12-ton shipment theft in Europe.
Why police stopped the car on the A16
The vehicle was not initially stopped following a reported chase. Officers said it caught their attention because it appeared unusually low to the road, indicating it was carrying a heavy load.
The Rural Crime Action Team was already conducting an operation along the A16 when officers noticed the car and stopped it.
Vehicle stops can sometimes uncover evidence that was not apparent when officers first approached a car. In another recent case, a Bass Highway traffic stop led to an alleged cocaine seizure and the discovery of a stolen firearm.
Taranaki supermarket reverses student restriction introduced over theft concerns
Police seize 121 tonnes of suspected stolen copper in Johannesburg
Two arrested after Peterborough-area stop
The 39-year-old man and 35-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of theft and handling stolen goods.
The arrests do not establish guilt. Authorities are describing the recovered items as suspected stolen goods while inquiries continue into how they came to be inside the vehicle.
Cambridgeshire Police also joked about the size of the haul, saying people may be starting to stock up for Christmas but that this was “a tad extreme.”
ITV News Anglia reported details of the A16 stop, including the quantities recovered and the two arrests.
Where did the suspected stolen food come from?
Police have not publicly identified a supermarket, shop or other business from which the goods are suspected to have been taken.
It is also unclear whether the products came from a single location or several alleged thefts. No exact figure beyond the reported value of more than £5,000 has been disclosed.
For now, the confirmed facts remain limited to the A16 stop, the large quantity of food and household products recovered, and the arrests of two people while police establish the origin of the goods.
Make Swikblog your go-to source on Google for reliable updates, smart insights, and daily trends.
