Two arrested after string of smash-and-grabs on Black Country buses
Police hunting smash-and-grab thieves who escaped with hundreds of pounds after targeting double decker buses in the Black Country have arrested two men.
They were detained separately in connection with a string of cash box thefts from National Express services throughout Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire last month.
The raiders struck five times in six days as the vehicles waited at the end of a route before starting a fresh journey.
On each occasion, the thieves jumped on board the stationary bus armed with an iron bar or something similar which was then used to lever off the cash box.
Extra police patrols were drafted in to areas where the raids occurred while officers trawled through hours of CCTV film from cameras on the targeted buses for clues to the identity of the culprits.
One suspect, a 35-year-old Wolverhampton man, was detained after a police officer thought he recognised somebody on the CCTV film of the attacks. This person was also spotted on security film at a petrol station in which he and another man apparently helped themselves to a handful of disposable gloves before driving away in a silver Fiesta.
The bus CCTV showed that the smash-and-grab thieves were wearing the same type of gloves.
Inquiries centred on the car and a dumped cash box from one of the raids led to the arrest of the second suspect.
The spate of thefts started when a No3 service was hit by the thieves at the Broadlands bus park in Featherstone at 10.05pm on November 18.
On November 21 there was a raid on the No1 bus in School Road, Tettenhall, at 6.05pm, followed by a raid on the same service at the identical spot the following night at 10.05pm.
On November 24 the No6 service was targeted at Patsull Avenue, Fordhouses, at 9.50pm, but a bid to steal another cash box from the No5 service at its Codsall terminus an hour later was foiled, forcing the raiders to flee empty-handed.
Deborah Edmonds from West Midlands Police confirmed that two men had been arrested in connection with the bus cash box thefts.
National Express spokesman Jack Kelly said: "We have taken measures to address this crime in the future."
There have been no further reports of similar offences.
