Police warn of a gang of thieves and fraudsters

Police pictured on patrol in Littlehampton earlier this year during an operation to combat shop lifting over the festive period SUS-151003-102649001

POLICE have warned that a gang of organised thieves have been raiding properties across the Arun district.

Sergeant Ian Cheesman spoke of a rise in burglary rates across the area during his report to councillors at the latest meeting of the joint downland area committee on Monday evening (March 9).

Sgt Cheesman told members there had been an ‘unfortunate spike’ in theft-related crime that the force was working hard to counter.

Speaking at the meeting at Arundel’s The White Swan, he said: “I would like to say it’s a slow time of year for us but it generally isn’t.

“We have seen, unfortunately, a bit of a spike in burglaries, both domestic and other-than dwellings – that’s business premises and derelict premises as well.

“It appears that this is spread across the south so not just the Arun area, we’ve had it in Chichester and Worthing.

“We believe there’s an organised group doing a proportion of them.”

He added the force was conducting operations in burglary ‘hot spots’ to try to reduce crime in those areas.

The other crime officers were ‘seeing a real increase’ in was the number of con artists and fraudsters preying on the area’s vulnerable, disabled and elderly residents.

Sgt Cheesman said there were three main types of fraud being committed, mostly over the phone.

The first involved scammers calling a victim, claiming there was something wrong with their computer. They ask for remote access to fix it and bank details to pay for the fix.