£5,000 reward for chip hi-jack
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• A 15,000 reward is on offer to catch thieves who threatened a driver and hijacked his trailer containing £250,000 worth of scrap microchips.
Essex-based Lee Jones was threatened with a gun and punched before being bundled into the sleeper compartment of his tractor unit with tape over his mouth and a pillowcase over his head. He was attacked while he sat in a layby for a rest near Blackwood, Gwent.
The thieves drove him about for several hours before leaving him in the tractive unit in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. At some stage the trailer was disconnected and neither it or the load has been seen again. Jones. who suffered fractured ribs and shock, has been off work since the attack on 1 November.
But according to Blackwood police this crime may not pay— only two factories in Europe are equipped to extract the precious metal from the chips.
If you can help contact Crimestoppers, (0800) 555 111. L Sergeant McCarthy of Essex police is warning drivers to take extra care in the run-up to Christmas. Thefts of loads, particularly of easily sold products such as cigarettes, soar at this time of year.