Appeal to return stolen goods found at a Stourbridge industrial unit during drugs raid
Police are appealing for help in returning stolen items worth almost £300,000 to their rightful owners – after they were discovered during a drugs raid in the Black Country.
Officers seized around 700 cannabis plants at an industrial unit in Amblecote, Stourbridge, earlier this month – but also found around 250 pieces of stolen property.
It includes a number of statues, a bike and a hydraulic lift.
All of the items combined are believed to be worth around £300,000.
West Midlands Police officers have already returned a number of the items found – including two ornamental urns from a pub in Wordsley, musical instruments from a school in Kidderminster and tools which had been stolen from vans in Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
Some of the items still had their owner's details attached – while others were marked up with forensic marking solutions so police were able to return them to their owners after scanning them with an ultraviolet light.
Pc Lucinda Boardman, from Dudley Police, said: "As you can imagine those people are delighted to get their property back.
"But unfortunately quite a few of the items don't have any identifying features on them, so we need your help to get them returned to their rightful owners."
Police are expected a lot of people to contact the force in relation to the items – so have asked people not to ring but to get in touch via the live chat facility on west-midlands.police.uk or by emailing contactus@west-midlands.pnn.police.uk, and quoting incident number 1638-170821.
Two men arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis have now been bailed as police continue with their investigation. All of the cannabis plants have been destroyed.
