Sports clubs are being urged to be vigilant following recent break-ins which involved high-value machinery being stolen.
An orange 2024 Kubota ride-on lawn mower and trailer worth £30,000, was taken from Ogwell Football Club after a storage area was broken into overnight on 12 December.
Hours later on 13 December, burglars broke into a lock-up at Bude Town Football Club and stole a new Holland Boomer 25 Compact tractor, valued at £16,500.
PC Neil Sommerfeld said: “These burglaries are the latest in a series of break-ins targeting sports clubs in Devon and Cornwall over recent months.”
PC Neil Sommerfeld said sports clubs were vital to their local communities and often relied on volunteers to survive.
“Targeting sports clubs shows no regard for the players, volunteers, supporters and coaches at these clubs”, he added.
Bude Town Football Club addressed the burglary on a recent Facebook post, and said: “This is an absolute hammer blow to us as it is probably our club’s biggest asset,
“With the amount of hard work and man hours from the club volunteers into raising money to maintain our club, for this to happen is just gut wrenching.”
Anyone with information or relevant footage was asked to contact police.
