Theft of tractors is rampant in recent times as is trafficking in stolen tractors between Ireland, Northern Ireland and England. Six farmers were recently very unhappy when their John Deere and Case tractors were sold off to the highest bidder. When gardai came knocking, the farmers found that tractors they thought were legitimate had been stolen in the UK. In what one garda described as the most "unpleasant" task he has ever had to carry out, tractors were seized from farmers and sold on behalf of their legal owners in the UK.

Ten stolen tractors have recently been recovered from all around Ireland, and more are expected to be found as the recently confiscated tractors were among up to 50 that had been stolen in the UK. Their identifying marks were altered and they had been advertised in the Farmers' Journal. The gardai claim they were then sold through Motorwise Ltd, in Clonard, Co. Meath, between September 1999 and February 2000 for prices from £25,000 to £40,000 (a full report was carried in Farmers' Journal, May 20, 2000). The investigation continues.

Theft of tractors, and to a lesser extent quad bikes, trailers and other agricultural machinery, is on the rise as is trade in stolen goods between Ireland, Northern Ireland and England. The National Farmers Union in Britain estimates that 1,500 tractors were stolen there in the year 2000 alone. TER (The National Equipment Register), which tracks down stolen vehicles in Ireland, the UK and sometimes in Europe had recovered 15 stolen tractors in Ireland by November 2000.

"We weren't recovering any tractors (in Ireland) 12 months ago, and we now have 15 in the bag," says Tim Purbrick of TER. "We have seen a definite targeting of the agricultural industry this year in the UK. Construction sites are in urban areas and they have increasingly been better protected with CCTV and so on. So thieves are moving out into the rural areas where they are targeting high value, vulnerable equipment such as tractors, which are seldom stopped by the police on the road and which have very good second-hand value and have almost no security to prevent theft."

The owner of one midland dealership, John Flynn of Flynn Machinery in The Downes, Mullingar, agrees that tractor theft is rising. He has had two tractors and one Daihatsu jeep stolen in the last two years - the first thefts ever for him.

"We never had a problem before that. All three were taken in the last two years. We would say it is definitely getting worse," says the owner. "We find it is just not safe for tractors to be left in fields any more although farmers seem to get away with it all the time."

One tractor was taken from a field where it was parked overnight, and another - a new Massey Ferguson 399 with only 20 hours on the clock and worth £32,000 - was taken when on hire to a farmer. Both tractors were recovered in Northern Ireland - one outside Enniskillen after the owner put up a £3,000 reward. A contractor had been working with it all summer. Another was found more quickly, within a month or two, in a housing estate across the border by the RUC. The farmer never recovered the Daihatsu, which must have been badly damaged as it was rammed through two security barriers.

TER, which has been involved with gardai, RUC, and British police in recovering stolen tractors and other vehicles, has recently recovered tractors in Ireland that had their identifying marks altered, before being registered with Irish Customs and Excise, Irish Tax Office and insured by Irish companies and financed by Irish banks.

According to Tim Purbrick, the theft and sale of stolen tractors in the UK and Ireland is increasing and is carried out by highly organised gangs. In one instance, the registration (VIN) plates were physically removed by someone visiting dealerships in France, America or Australia. They were posted in jiffy bags to accomplices in Ireland who then went to England to steal tractors to match the plates. Tractors were typically stolen between 8pm and 10pm and are on the ferry from England to Ireland or Northern Ireland long before being reported stolen. Thieves try to legitimise stolen vehicles further by selling them into the second-hand market through dealerships, adverts in papers, in part exchange, or for cash. But this is just one operation, and TER can cite many others.