‘On the run’ appears to be literally the case in this wild west incident on yesterday morning’s ferry from Lochranza in Arran to Claonaig in Kintyre.
Two men in a van on the ferry created suspicion, with a car driver suggesting to the CalMac crew that it might be worth looking in the back of the van they were driving.
When the crew did so, they found the back of the van stacked with loads of stolen tools – the pair had been making raids on builders vans on Arran throughout Sunday night, stealing these and progressively loading them into their van before heading for the ferry from Lochranza yesterday morning, Monday 30th July.
The skipper of the ferry, Captain Gavin Crawford raised the alarm with police when the cache – estimated at £10,000 worth of tools – was discovered. He had also been tipped off by the CalMac office at Brodick to keep at eye out for potential thieves leaving the island, as knowledge of some of the overnight robberies was then in local circulation.
This is a short ferry passage of 30 minutes and by the time the tools were discovered, MV Loch Tarbert was coming into Claonaig, with its unloading ramp down.
Captain Crawford ordered the ramp to be raised again to trap the theives but while the van remained on the ferry, the thieves jumped into the water and ran for it, disappearing into the countryside.
A police helicopter conducted a search and we have asked Police Scotland for an update on the situation which we will add here when we get it.
