Police officers from Hampshire Constabulary’s Country Watch team supported Thames Valley Police’s Rural Crime team yesterday morning (24 Nov) in a joint operation.

This followed an investigation into a series of stolen horsebox trailers across the two Force areas.

Officers were deployed to the Liss area at around 10.30am yesterday morning to confirm the presence of the horsebox by making use of their drone capabilities from a discreet distance.

Whilst observing activity, the drone located two men with the horseboxes and the registration numbers were confirmed by the drone operators, and the horseboxes were confirmed as stolen from the Thames Valley area. A quantity of money was then seen to be exchanged, a horsebox was then hooked up and towed offsite towards the A3.

The drone continued to track the vehicle movements co-ordinating police vehicles until it was stopped. The drone then returned to the site and confirmed the man receiving the money was still present, he was monitored until he was arrested by officers on the ground.

Three horseboxes and stolen items – believed to have spanned incidents from across the Thames Valley area were recovered as a result.

A 25-year-old man from Liss was arrested on suspicion of theft, theft of a motor vehicle and handling stolen goods.

He was later released under investigation, pending further police enquiries.