Never fear, the Gnome Squad is here

11-day police operation nets cache of 40 gnomes
STUART NICOLSON

A MAJOR police operation lasting 11 days has netted a haul of 40 garden gnomes. The bearded figures, complete with their bright red hats, fishing rods and barrows, were found at a house in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, police said yesterday.

The discovery was made by a dedicated squad of officers from CID, tactical crime and drugs units at Central Scotland Police, who worked round the clock during the operation to catch what they believed was an organised criminal gang.

Officers also uncovered dozens of ornamental rabbits, birds, hedgehogs, plant pots and solar lights in the Aladdin's-style cave. Two women have been arrested and charged with theft.
The operation came after people in Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Falkirk complained of waking to find their bearded ornaments had apparently wandered off.

Yesterday police revealed that as well as retrieving the stash of stolen gnomes, the operation had led to them solving more than 146 crimes.

A spokeswoman for Central Scotland Police said: "This was a highly successful operation which saw detection rates across the force rise by 5 per cent.

"While the recovery of the gnomes was one notable achievement of the operation, many crimes were solved."

The Scotsman, 25 August 2005

[Courtesy of Louise's mate. 'Clackmannanshire' sounds like an explosion in a clockwork train factory to me]