A digger stolen from the New Forest has been found hidden in a white van in Ringwood.
The van was discovered by police on Tuesday night (April 11) parked on a residential street in the town.
After investigation, police officers found that it had no tax, insurance, MOT or current keeper details.
Further enquiries lead officers to suspect that the van was storing stolen goods, so officers broke in through the back door.
There they found a digger along with a pair of ramps which had been stolen early that morning from an address in Burley.
Officers seized the van and digger and are forensically examining it to help identify a suspect. Once that has been done, the digger will be returned to its owner.
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A spokesperson for Ringwood Police said: "Thanks to some targeted proactive patrols and hard work from the team to link together reports from various sources, such as crime reports and police intelligence, we have been able to locate a vehicle this evening parked up on a residential street in Ringwood with no tax, insurance, MOT, or current keeper details.
"Further enquires have caused officers to suspect that the van contained stolen property and as such entry was gained under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
"Information we receive from the public can be invaluable in helping us to put the pieces together to allow positive results like this to happen, no matter how small you think it might be."
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