Investigations are now under way by the Adelphi police in St James, who believe they have cracked a major car-stealing ring in their area.

Racing against torrential rains on Wednesday, a police team from the Adelphi station journeyed miles into the remote district of Whyms Road, near Canaan, in search of stolen motor vehicles. This, while sections of the Adelphi police area were under heavy flooding.

intelligence

The team was acting on intelligence, which led them to the find. The operation lasted 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sergeant Clevert Foster told The Star yesterday. He is the sub-officer in charge of the Adelphi station.

The operation uncovered what police believe is a major scrapyard where high-end Toyota vehicles, mainly Fielders, and 'sponge bobs' are taken and dismantled for resale purposes.

The police recovered several scrapped body parts stored in what appeared to be an abandoned farmhouse on the property. The items include doors, fenders, bumpers, bonnets, trunk lids, seats, electrical looms, front-end parts, muffler systems, as well as interior parts and accessories.

A barrel packed with car brain boxes (computers) was also found in the one-apartment farm house.

inaccessible

"The area is as rural as can be and most of it is not accessible by vehicular traffic due to its rugged terrain, so we had to move the items by hand to our service vehicles," Sergeant Foster said.

Police theorise that the vehicles were scrapped in the area and the parts taken to the farm house.

"Our investigations indicate that theft and scrapping of these particular motor cars is being done by persons in Trelawny and St James. We believe this operation could be going on for quite some time now," Sergeant Foster said.

No arrest was made.