£1.3m recycling equipment stolen in pre-planned heist
The West Midlands Police and the Serious Fraud Squad are investigating the robbery of £1.3m of assets, which were set to be sold at auction.
Equipment from collapsed plastic recycling firm QC Polymer was stolen at its site in Bilston on the evening before a public inspection.
Administrators from Hudson Weir believe it “would have taken 7 days to dismantle this plant and a fleet of 10 articulated lorries and two cranes to cart it away. The theft was clearly premeditated pre-planned and the factory building showed no signs of forced entry”.
QC Polymer collapsed on October 29 and appointed Hasib Howlader and Nimish Patel of Hudson Weir as joint administrators.
Hudson Weir had instructed G J Wisdom & Co as valuers and auctioneers to oversee the sale of its state-of-the-art plastic bottle recycling plant. On November 6, the night before the sale, Garry Wisdom arrived at the factory to prepare for the pre-auction public viewing and found the building empty with the entire plant missing.
Administrators have asked the recycling industry to be extra vigilant as the equipment could be sold to a limited market.
Hasib Howlader said: “The inventory of the equipment that was removed from the site was highly specialist PET recycling machinery with a limited market for its sale and disposal. So, we are asking the industry to be on the lookout for this type of technology, being offered, second hand, at well below market value.
“We had secured significant interest in this inventory of specialised recycling equipment, with several interested parties ready to make offers when the sale date arrived on the 11th of November. This is a setback in our current plans as our duty as administrators is to realise as much for the business and its assets as we can returning to the creditor’s funds for distribution.
“We are asking the recycling industry to be extra vigilant and to keep an eye open for the type of equipment that has been stolen from QC Polymer. If any of the machinery is offered to you please contact me, Hasib Howlader on the following email and telephone numbers.”
E: hasib@hudsonweir.co.uk
T: 020 7099 6086
The inventory included the following:
Bail Break, Trommel Separator, Cap & Label Separator, Tomra Autosort Bottle Sorter with EM3 Metal Sensor
Ken Mills Aries Horizontal Bailer, Label Remover, Pre-Washer, Granulators, Floating Tanks, Centrifugal Dryers
Steam Boiler, Hot Wash Tanks, Hot Air Drying System, Blow Down Vessel, Tomra Optical Flake Sorter, Eddy Current Separator
Discharge Silo & Twin Bagging Stand, as well as various connecting conveyors
Boge Direct Air UK Air Compressor with a 1000L Tank & Dryer
Two Polymer Preparation Systems
Dissolved Air Floatation System for water filtration
