A SPECIALIST unit is working with police forces around Yorkshire to track down thieves responsible for 26 ATM raids.

Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit is investigating four cash machine thefts in North Yorkshire since August, while looking into similar smash-and-grabs around the country.

Concern has been raised following four raids in North Yorkshire, five in South Yorkshire, 11 in West Yorkshire, five in Humberside and one in Darlington.

The first of the North Yorkshire thefts took place on Friday, August 30, when an ATM was stolen from the Co-op store in Hunmanby, near Filey, and later found in the village of Burton Fleming in East Yorkshire. A 44-year-old Hull man was arrested and later bailed.

The second theft on Friday, October 6, saw a cash machine ripped from the wall of a Co-op store in Main Street, Bishopthorpe, at 3.05am.

Thieves also stole an ATM on Thursday, October 19, when three or four men used a telehandler tractor to get it from the wall of Sainsbury’s in Stainsacre Lane, Whitby, at about 1.40am.

The final raid in North Yorkshire was on Thursday, November 9, at Morrisons in Wetherby Road, Boroughbridge, at 2.15am.

No one has been arrested in connection with the three most recent raids.

Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Spencer, from the organised crime unit, said: “These crimes are most often committed in the early hours of the morning, generally at quiet secluded outlying villages. However, more populated locations have also been subject to this crime.”

He said high-powered vehicles were usually used as getaway cars and in some cases ATMs were ripped out of walls using stolen plant machinery.

DCI Spencer added: “The Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit is taking this extremely seriously and is currently working with colleagues from all the four police forces concerned, as well as private industry.

“We are also learning from similar offending that has been investigated by colleagues nationally.”