By Ross Brewster

Last updated 13:11, Tuesday, 05 August 2008

Police in the Lake District have tracked down stolen property after a theft victim spotted his canoe for sale on internet site ebay.

As a result of his observation, Keswick police launched a “sting” operation which led to arrests and to the recovery of stolen property.

Over previous weeks a number of canoes had been stolen from locations around the Keswick area. One of the people who had a canoe stolen actually recognised it for sale on ebay and contacted Keswick police station.

A number of inquiries were put in place with ebay which assisted in identifying possible suspects for the recent thefts.

Sergeant Garry Armstrong said: “Thanks to the observations of a victim of one of the thefts we were able to put necessary arrangements in place that enabled us to make arrests and also recover stolen property.

“The offender was led to believe that he was delivering the canoes to a legitimate buyer and when he arrived we struck. In effect he was caught red handed with the canoes and as a result of further information obtained we are now in a position to make other inquiries throughout the country.