British police are investigating the “large scale theft” of engines from the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plant in Solihull and has offered a reward for their recovery.
JLR is not specifying the value of the engines, but reports in the UK are indicating they could be worth in the region of GBP3m (US$3.7m) following their removal from the Damson site in Solihull near Birmingham at some point late at night between 31 January and 1 February.
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A statement from the West Midlands Police Force says: “It is believed the engines were stolen from the Damson Lane site in Solihull sometime between late night Tuesday 31 January and the early hours of Wednesday 1 February.
“An articulated truck is believed to have entered the site twice, each time hooking up to trailers carrying the engines and then leaving again through the gate.
“The empty stolen trailers have since been located and seized by police.”
In a statement sent to just-auto by JLR, the automaker confirmed it was working with West Midlands Police to investigate the theft of engines from the Solihull manufacturing plant, but is declining to add to the details already released.
“A reward is on offer to anyone who has information which leads to the successful recovery of these engines,” said the manufacturer.
“It would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment whilst this investigation is ongoing.”
