Blaggers lift 60 CCTV cameras

'Seriously sophisticated' security system goes walkies

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 18th June 2004 14:36 GMT

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A story in today's Daily Telegraph (registration required) leads us to suspect that roving gangs of Chinese mainland blaggers may be operating in the Wakefield area.

Our report yesterday into the daring snatch of PCs from crime-busting tech expo Asia Securitex 2004 in Hong Kong came just a few days after "thieves broke into Business Homes' new business park in Wakefield and stole the 60 cameras and sensors that made up its 'state of the art security system'."

What is especially satisfying about this audacious coup is that the two of the business park's residents are HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and HM Prisons Service.

Director Simon Houlston, who presumably had not yet really got to grips with the reality that his entire surveillance set-up had been well and truly knicked, told the Telegraph: "This was a seriously sophisticated system. There are cameras hooked up to a central office in Blackburn. If the men watching the screens see a burglar they send a message out on loudspeakers to the office warning them to leave."

In this case, however, the "seriously sophisticated system" failed when the light-fingered ne'er-do-wells simply ignored the message and pilfered the kit regardless.

In fact, the only effect of the amplified deterrent was to convince an old lady next door that she had heard the voice of God "telling her, in a strong Lancashire accent, to leave the vicinity as soon as possible". ®