In the dead of night on Thursday 23 April Farsight operators received an alarm at a car forecourt at 23:23 – long after it’s opening hours.
Aware that there should be no one present at the site, the Farsight operator immediately reviewed the CCTV footage and started to monitor the site live. Despite six-foot high palisade fencing surrounding the site, four masked intruders had scaled the gate and cut the lock for the front gate.
As soon as the operator had spotted the intruders they issued an audio warning to the site, notifying the intruders that they had been spotted and their actions were being recorded live via CCTV. As the site is a closed site, the operator also immediately called the police to make them aware of the break-in and the need for an urgent response.
Despite the operators efforts with an audio warning and notification that the police had been called, the intruders brazenly continued with the burglary.
The intruders continued to cut the rear gate lock, to aid their exit, and the intruders smashed a window to gain entry to the building within the compound.
Once inside the building, within 11 minutes the intruders had reached the location of a safe and dragged it through the building. A desk was used to launch the safe out of a window, which then landed on a car. Other vehicles parked in the compound and the inside of the building experienced further damage.
Operators at Farsight continued to monitor the site until an alarm, at 00:27, was received from police arriving on site.
Thanks to the quick reactions of Farsight operators, the police arrived at the site in time to arrest all four perpetrators and to recover the stolen safe. Although damage had been done to the site, the remote monitoring in place and extensive CCTV systems meant the criminals were caught and the biggest asset – the safe – successfully recovered.
At this stage, the police are investigating the incident and how it could have occurred. However, from our experience and due to how rapidly the intruders identified the location of the safe, we have our suspicions that the incident may have links to an ‘inside job’.
If you want to find out how to improve internal security, have a read of our blog: Security from the inside, out: Focusing your security on outsider threats isn’t enough
Or if you’re interested in finding out how Farsight could protect your site and property, get in touch with us today.
