A distillery near York has been hit by a ‘very well organised break in’ which saw thousands of bottles stolen.
Around 7,000 bottles worth £100,000 were taken in the raid at the Sloemotion Distillery at Barton-le-Willows, between York and Malton.
Thieves broke into the distillery via the roof.
Police recovered the stolen stock at 12.40am on Sunday morning.
They were alerted to the raid by a member of the public who saw a group of men breaking through the Sloemotion Distillery gates.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “Our roads policing officers immediately deployed to the A64 and sighted a HGV travelling westbound in close proximity with a car.
“We attempted to stop both vehicles near Askham Bryan. The car was stopped by two units and the four occupants inside were detained.”
Two people inside the HGV jumped out while it was still moving, and ran off over fields. Police dog Rhun and his handler tracked the men for more than four miles before finding two suspects matching their description hiding in a haystack.
The HGV “came to a slow natural stop in the live lane and as traffic was light thankfully it didn’t cause any damage
“In total, six people from the West Yorkshire area, two aged in their 20s, three aged in their 30s and one in his 50s, were arrested on suspicion of burglary. They all currently remain in police custody,” the spokesperson added.
Short of stock
Sloemotion Distillery said the bottles include vodka, gin and liqueurs. They are being held as evidence at the moment, leaving them short of stock.
In a statement, the firm said: “Thankfully, no one was hurt in the incident, but a huge amount of stock was stolen during this very well organised break in.
“Our alarm system notified the North Yorkshire police, which led to them being able to apprehend a gang of six people all involved in the crime. The North Yorkshire Police were anything but ‘sloe’ and caught them on the move.”
It added: “We are still running our York, Manchester and Winchester Christmas markets as normal, but our larger customers may face a few delays while we work through the damage caused to our building, and rebuild our stock levels from the breakages, and stock that remains in police custody as evidence.
“We will try to keep the disruption to a minimum as we work hard to have no impact on supply to our amazing customers, we are forever grateful for all your support.
“Thank you in advance for your patience as we rectify the damage caused.”