Rural Watch Update - 28/08/2026

Good afternoon, 

Happy Friday once again! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week and looking forward to some rest this weekend. I know I am! 

I reported to you all a while back about a theft of copper cable from West Lothian. There have been some developments on this where I could really use your eyes and ears to help disrupt any future thefts. 

Operation Opal is the name given to the theft of copper from windfarms. The criminals involved will imposter Scottish Power engineers with the intention of steeling the copper from within the wind turbines. They may also remove buried copper cable from rural fields. The criminals will provide very plausible stories for their attendance and come across as genuine. What has been known to give them away is that they wear trainers instead of work issued boots! 

If you have any concerns about Scottish Power engineers operating in your area, please give ourselves of Scottish power a call directly on 0345 270 0700, or 105 in emergencies. 

We have also had increased reports of fly tipping across the Lothian and Border’s, in particular, West Lothian in Broxburn and Fauldhouse. If you have observed suspicious looking vans in your area please let us know either by calling 101 or submitted a Contact Us form from our website. 

Several Milwaukee power tools, believed to be stolen, have been recovered by our Borders CID team. The tools have all been marked with initials. If you have had tools stolen recently and believe these may be yours, please contact Police so we can hopefully get these back to their owner. 

Now on to Business News…. 

SCOTTISH BORDERS 

A quad bike was stolen from a farm in Hawick this week by cutting the padlock to a shed and stealing the quad from within. The quad was observed being driven away in the early hours of the morning by neighbouring farmers. The quad was abandoned and tracked down by the owner! A well deserved cup of tea for that! A trail camera in the area has captured a suspicious vehicle I need you to keep your eyes peeled for 

White Vauxhall Vivaro van VU14 EGY 

Please report any sightings of this vehicle immediately to Police. 

A storage site was broken into with multiple storage units also forced open. A horse box which was being kept on the site has been stolen. Unfortunately, I have no further information for you on this one just now. 

WEST LOTHIAN 

No business news

EAST/MID LOTHIAN 

No business news. 

Many thanks again for reading, I hope you all have a lovely weekend. 

Take Care 

PC Robyn Hanna