Blitz on truck gangs axed

Operation Indicate has now been merged with TruckPol, which targets HGV crime on a national level. Indicate's website, which gave regular updates on the activities of thieves, has been shut down and the investigation of major truck crime devolved to stations around the West Midlands.

Coventry-based officer Dc Andy Round acts as a liaison officer for TruckPol.

Gangsters have used guns, knives and chemical sprays to hijack lorries and loot millions of pounds worth of goods in a violent wave of terrifying heists on West Midlands truckers in recent years.

Police say highly organised syndicates are behind a significant number of attacks, which left the industry with a £12.5 million bill in 2004.

Officers put the average value of stolen loads at around £40,000.

In 2005, the Express & Star revealed fears in the haulage industry that Indicate, set up the previous year, was to be axed.

At the time, the seven-strong Indicate team was credited with a 46 per cent drop in truck crime, 50 arrests and the recovery of more than £500,000 of stolen property.

A similar scheme, Operation Coppergold, was axed in 2004 – only for truck crime levels to soar again.

There was anger in 2006 when it emerged that Indicate had just one officer.

But today West Midlands Police insisted the changes did not mean they were any less committed to tackling the crooks.

Spokeswoman Tracey Baker said Dc Round was now the West Midlands Police liaison officer for TruckPol. She said TruckPol offered a national forum for the investigation and sharing of intelligence relating to HGV crime.

She added: "It allows for more effective sharing of information across police forces. We've still got officers working on truck crime and as far as we're concerned it's a better service.

"Truck crime isn't a local issue, it's very much a national issue."

"Amalgamating with a national scheme is obviously going to allow for a far better information sharing service."