Outboard thieves foiled at Queenborough

Recovering the stolen outboard from the Swale mud

Harbour Manager Emma Crompton tells us what happened. On the afternoon of 25 June, an alert mooring holder at Queenborough Harbour spotted three chaps in an inflatable dinghy removing an outboard from another boat. The harbour team quickly came over in the trot boat while the police were called. One of the thieves disembarked with the outboard in the mud by the coal washer, only to drop it in his struggle to get ashore. The other two went back to the slipway but when they saw the police they headed back to the coal washer area where they abandoned the dinghy. Their two vehicles contained marine equipment stolen from Devon the night before, though the three suspects, who were subequently arrested, were from Kent, though not local. The inflatable dinghy had been stolen from the tender park in March! Emma and some helpers managed to recover the outboard from the mud before the tide claimed it – see photo.

This just shows how brazen the thieves are and how important it is to be alert to suspicious activity.

One thought on “Outboard thieves foiled at Queenborough”

  1. Congratulations to our hawk-eyed mooring holder and well done Emma, the Harbour Team and police. We fellow members of the leisure boating fraternity can all be proud of you and it just goes to show how important it is to keep an eye open and never to shrink from taking action whenever a suspicious activity is observed.

    Fellow Leisure Boaters –
    Don’t forget Project Kraken which is jointly run by the Home Office and the UK Border Force. Operation Kraken is mainly concerned with smuggling of people or goods but “If you see anything unusual or suspicious report it to you local Police on 101, or to Crime stoppers on 0800 555 111 quoting ‘Kraken’ ” or to your local Harbour Master.

    So bring back the Cat o’ Nine-Tails and let’s get keel hauling these parasites and pests of society.

    Yours Aye,

    Cap’n Pugsley

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