UK HUNT WIDENS FOR COMPUTER THIEVES Evening Star - Hunt widens for laptop thieves

Hunt widens for laptop thieves

DETECTIVES hunting thieves who stole a laptop computer with the bank details of everybody on a Suffolk council's payroll have teamed up with other officers outside East Anglia.

Bank and national insurance details of 1,380 people employed by St Edmundsbury Borough Council were stored on the computer stolen from the home of a senior council officer in September.

A Suffolk police spokeswoman was unable to state which forces were being worked with for operational reasons but she did confirm suspects had been identified.

The revelation comes just days after the Government revealed two computer discs with personal information of 25 million people were lost after a breach of procedures at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

In the wake of the St Edmundsbury laptop theft all employees, including council members, were instructed to check their bank accounts on a daily basis amid fears over fraud.

A council spokeswoman said nobody had become a victim of fraud as a result of the theft.