POLICE are looking into whether a number of thefts which took place across Droitwich in the space of one night are linked.
More than £5,000 of valuables were taken from parked cars overnight between October 9 and October 10.
Sometime between 6pm and 7am thieves sawed off a £500 catalytic converter from a grey Ford Ranger parked on a drive on Meadow Road.
Gardening equipment worth more than £3,700 was also taken from a grey Fiat Scudo van, parked on a drive on Old Coach Road.
Thieves managed to damage and remove the door lock, although officers do not know how it was done. They then took a number of items including a £285 16inch Stihl chainsaw, a Tanaka hedge trimmer worth £529 and a £546 Stihl hedge trimmer.
A £1,030 Honda lawn mower, a Stihl garden vacuum and blower worth £299, a Stihl strimmer worth £515 and a Makita drill worth £500 were also taken.
Between 7pm and 2pm the next day, a pink 8GB Apple Ipod Nano and TomTom sat nav were taken from a car parked on Swan Drive.
The items worth £100 were taken from the blue Peugeot, outside the victim’s home, after thieves forced the side lock on the passender door.
Another car door lock was forced on a blue Fiat van parked on Wedgeberrow Close allowing raiders to escape with £400 of tools.
An assortment of hand tools and electrical testers worth £250 and two £75 Bosch drills were taken sometime between 7pm and 7.30am.
Days later, thieves struck again and forced their way into a van parked on Oakleigh Road and stole more than £3,640 of work tools.
It is believed the thieves broke off a pad lock and hasp and got into the silver Peugeot Boxer van between 2.30pm last Wednesday (October 15) and 6.45am on Thursday (October 16).
A £1,000 Stihl strimmer and two Stihl chainsaws worth £1,000 were taken along with two Stihl hedgecutters – one with a long pole and with a short one – together valuing £1,600.
Two ten-litre cans of unleaded petrol worth £40 and a Stihl leafblower were also taken.
Three men were seen near by the scene about 10.30pm.
Insp Janet Heritage, from the Droitwich Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “We would be interested in hearing from anybody who saw any suspicious people or vehicles on those two dates or any other dates.”
Anyone with any information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
