Police are planning an operation to crackdown on Christmas tree thefts in the run up to the festive season.
Operation Tinsel will see the force’s Rural Crime Team (RCT) crack down on Christmas tree theft across the region.
The team will launch targeted patrols of known hot spots where fir trees have been stolen regularly in previous years, often on a commercial basis by rogue tree fellers.
Sgt Rob Taylor of the RCT said: “We have in the past seen large numbers of trees stolen, that are then sold on to the unsuspecting customers who have no idea they have been stolen.
“These types of thefts can have a detrimental impact on the habitat from where they are stolen.”
The campaign will run until the Christmas holidays and the RCT will work alongside Natural Resources Wales (NRW), who manage some of the land where trees have previously been stolen.
Tim Jones, regional director of the NRW, said: “We fully support the work of the Rural Crime Team in preventing these types of thefts and we will report back to them suspicious vehicles or activities in the forest blocks.
“This is about partnership working.”
Reports of theft of the evergreen fir tree have increased since the start of the credit crunch in 2008.
Growers can be expected to shift more than eight million trees worth £400 million this year.
The cost of the popular 6ft Nordmann fir has fuelled a black market.
For full story see - http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/police-crackdown-christmas-tree-thefts-10319367
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