A gang of crooks who made off with a lorry load of prawns from a north-east fish factory were caught on camera.
CCTV footage shows the thieves making a swift exit from the Laeso Fish company’s yard in Peterhead following a daring, after dark raid.
They hitched a refrigerated container with more than 11 tonnes of shellfish onto their own tractor unit before fleeing the scene.
Last night, detectives were trawling through hours of surveillance footage captured from neighbouring businesses around the Damhead Way site.
It shows a white and blue coloured truck, with a grey stripe, was used to haul away the £100,000 trailer at around 11pm on Sunday.
Police hope to the footage will help them establish which route the vehicle took.
Officers have also issued a photograph of the stolen container, which has Peterhead Transport emblazoned on the side in large red letters. It was being leased by Laeso from Buckie company, the Real McKay.
Last night a police spokeswoman said inquiries were ongoing and appealed to anyone who saw anything suspicious at the factory – part of the Dales Industrial Estate – to get in touch.
Laeso boss Sandy McRobbie said the prawns, which are worth more than £60,000, would have to be taken to a processors within three days before they started to go off and became unusable.
He said the raiders used bolt cutters to snap off a lock and get inside the yard.
The trailer had been parked outside the factory to cope with an overspill of seafood.
Anyone who has seen the stolen trailer since Sunday is urged to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.