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Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Moment police arrest 'Albanian organised crime gang members' after spate of million-pound burglaries in affluent Cheshire villages
Police officers have arrested several members of an alleged Albanian organised crime gang following a spate of burglaries across swathes of England - including towns in the so-called Golden Triangle of Cheshire beloved by celebrities. Cheshire Police detectives swooped on three addresses in Walsall, Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham early on Wednesday and cuffed three men aged 27, 28 and 30. All three are Albanian nationals, the force said. Police also detained a 33-year-old British woman. All four are being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary and remain in police custody. Dramatic footage showed uniformed officers shouting 'Police!' as they stormed into a house in the execution of Operation Ambler - ongoing police action involving multiple English forces intent on tackling Albanian gang activity. During the stunning raids, a man is seen being handcuffed as he lies prone and shirtless in bed. Other clips showed men being led into the back of cage vans. Detectives from Macclesfield CID leading the operation say the arrests are linked to at least 37 'sophisticated' burglaries that took place between October and March at addresses all over the country. Among the thefts were 10 in Cheshire, seven in Staffordshire, 13 in Derbyshire - including two at the same address on the same day - three in Cleveland and one apiece in Durham, West Mercia, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire. Every raid targeted a 'high-value residential premises', police allege. Some of the addresses in Cheshire hit were in the footballers' enclaves of Alderley Edge and Prestbury - two of the 'Golden Triangle' towns favoured by the rich and famous. Thieves are thought to have broken in via first-floor windows and doors as they carried out the raids, and went to 'great lengths' to do so across England. Criminals are said to have made off with more than £1million of high-value items in total - £400,000 of it from homes in Cheshire alone - some of which were allegedly recovered during the morning raids. In video released by Cheshire Police, officers wearing head torches could be seen raking through wardrobes as they sought to trace the stolen goods. Valuable-looking watches were dropped into evidence bags, while a mobile phone was placed into a specialist forensic evidence box. Detective Sergeant Laura Fox of Macclesfield CID said: 'Today's raids are the culmination of detailed investigations across multiple forces brought together into at least thirty-seven high value burglaries spread over a six-month period. 'Our investigation has shown us that these incidents have been carefully planned and coordinated, and they've gone to great lengths to continue their crime spree across the country. 'On each occasion the offenders have specifically targeted high value properties, breaking in via first floor windows and doors, and ransacking the premises to steal as much as possible. 'In total we believe that the value of the items stolen in the burglaries was more than £1 million, which includes more than £400,000 from the ten homes in Cheshire. 'I hope that today's arrests provide some reassurance to the victims in the case and also act as a warning to other offenders.' And in a warning to thieves, her colleague Detective Inspector Dave Jarvis added: 'No matter where you live, or how much you try to hide, our officers will come for you, and you will be arrested.' Burglaries were once thought to be crimes of opportunity - but have allegedly become the preserve of organised crime gangs who go to great lengths to execute professional operations targeting lucrative homes. Last month, Cheshire Police issued an appeal for a burglary in Prestbury that saw three thieves drill a hole into a wall of a disused building in order to climb into the store next door. The thieves made off with £260,000 of high-value designer handbags from Dress Cheshire, whose owner Christine Colbert, 58, could only watch on helplessly as CCTV was livestreamed to her phone. She told MailOnline last month: 'This has been very well thought through - it's very frightening for me. 'I can't believe the lengths they have gone to. It used to be watches people wanted – now it's handbags and they are worth more second-hand than they are new.' Similarly, £1million of designer handbags were stolen in a raid in Alderley Edge in February. At this time, the incidents have not been linked to Albanian crime gang activity - but spates of incidents across Cheshire have prompted the rich and famous to beef up their security, hiring private contractors. Full list of addresses 'raided by Albanian organised crime gang' Cheshire Legh Road, Prestbury – 04/11/2024 Prestbury Lane, Macclesfield – 18/11/2024 Bollington Lane, Nether Alderley – 20/11/2024 Red Lane, Disley – 09/12/2024 St Marys Drive, Whitegate – 11/12/2024 Colleys Lane, Willaston – 12/12/2024 Colleys Lane, Willaston – 12/12/2024 Crewe Road, Willaston – 12/12/2024 Freshwater Drive, Weston – 13/01/2025 Redshank Drive, Macclesfield – 07/03/2025 Staffordshire Fairbanks Walk, Swynerton, Stone – 01/03/2025 Farm in Aldridge – 07/01/2025 Townfield Croft, Hill Ridware – 21/01/2025 Main Street, Barton Under Needwood – 05/02/2025 Bramwell Drive, Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, WS6 7PQ – 06/02/2025 Manor Park, Kings Bromley – 12/02/2025 Chestnut Walk, Cheddleton – 24/02/2025 Derbyshire Broadway, Belper, DE56 4BW – 10/10/2024 Riggots Lane, Walton, Chesterfield – 11/10/2024 Burley Lane, Quarndon, Derby – 28/10/2024 Hazelwood Road, Belper, Chesterfield – 28/10/2024 Main Road, Old Brampton, S42 7JG – 09/11/2024 Millthorpe Lane, Holmesfield, Dronfield – 12/11/2024 Chestnut Way, Repton, Derby – 14/12/2024 The Common, Quarndon, Derby – 24/01/2025 The Common, Quarndon, Derby – 24/01/2025 Memorial Road, Derby – 18/02/2025 Burley Lane, Derby – 19/02/2025 Ecclesbourne Reach, Duffield, Derby – 19/02/2025 Coppicewood Drive, Derby – 20/02/2025 Durham Stockton Road, Castle Eden, Hartlepool – 17/10/2024 Cleveland Upsall Grange Gardens, Flatts Lane – 24/12/2024 Upsall Grange Gardens, Flatts Lane – 24/12/2024 Briarfield Close, Hartlepool, Cleveland – 17/01/2025 West Mercia Morda Close, Oswestry, SY11 2BA – 10/02/2025 Nottinghamshire Glebe Park, Balderton, Newark – 08/03/2025 Warwickshire Pebworth Drive, Hatton, Warwick, CV35 7UD – 16/03/2025
Telegraph
11-06-2025
- Telegraph
Balaclava-clad suspects ‘behind £250k handbags theft' caught on CCTV
Police have released images of the balaclava-clad suspects allegedly behind the theft of handbags worth £260,000. A trio of burglars took 55 luxury handbags from a boutique in the exclusive Cheshire village of Prestbury on Sunday night. The ski mask-wearing intruders broke in from a disused property next door, drilling through the shop's chimney to gain access. They then made a getaway with the high-end handbags, worth as much as £25,000 each. Cheshire Constabulary released CCTV images of the suspected burglars on Wednesday in an appeal for members of the public to identify them. Det Con Clare Slattery, of Macclesfield CID, said: 'Enquiries in relation to this incident are ongoing and we're committed to doing all we can to identify the people responsible. 'As part of our investigation we're keen to identify the men pictured in the CCTV images as we believe they may hold vital information. 'If you recognise the men, please contact us. I would also like to appeal directly to the men in the CCTV images to get in touch.' Christine Colbert, the owner of the boutique, watched the burglary live on CCTV from her home. 'I went to bed about 10.30pm on Sunday so I was asleep when we got a call from the monitoring company,' Mrs Colbert told the Daily Mail. 'I immediately switched on the CCTV on my phone and I could see a man crouching down and bricks all over the floor. I said to my husband Gary, 'We're being robbed.' I was panicking.' Mrs Colbert said that watching the footage back, she could hear the noise of drilling for more than an hour before the raiders broke through. She added added: 'They were big burly men, and they were all in black with goggles, balaclavas, and gloves. They took three or four minutes to whirl round the shop and grab all the bags. 'One man had a duvet tied round his neck like a pouch which he threw the bags in. Another man put everything up his arms – they were full of bags. 'Then they hurled the handbags through the hole they'd made. Respect for the bags was zero.' The gang dropped just two of the bags, which were among the least valuable. The next-door building was empty following an arson attack. Items worth £180,000 were stolen from Mrs Colbert's shop last year after burglars entered through a window.
