A GANG at the centre of an organised crime ring that targeted high-value plant machinery and vehicles across the South East, has received a total of four years and three months' imprisonment, following a year-long intelligence-led investigation by Surrey Police. The three men who masterminded the thefts were jailed following a three-week trial that heard evidence of a sustained campaign of high-value plant and motor vehicle thefts. Among the thefts were two Ford Transit vans worth £15,000 each, taken from a building site in Badshot Lea in January 2004 and a Terex mini dumper worth £22,500, taken from a Farnham building site in August last year. Leonard Coates, 38, from Lonesome Depot caravan park in Streatham, was jailed for two years, while Gary Green, 26, of Peel Court, Farnborough, received a 12-month prison sentence and a further six months to run consecutively for a breach of a previous suspended sentence, making a total of 18 months.  Both Coates and Green had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen plant. Clinton Chapman, 33, of Ormonde Avenue in Epsom, received a 15-month custodial sentence. The trio's activities led to an extensive police investigation. Codenamed Operation Rockcliffe, it was conducted by Surrey officers from the Serious Crime Investigation Team (SCIT) and Stolen Vehicle Squad. The value of the plant equipment and motor vehicles that were recovered amounted to £500,000 Intelligence-led investigations led to a search warrant that was executed at The Paddock, Reigate Road, Epsom, in February 2004, where stolen plant and lorries worth £150,000 were recovered. In May last year, officers intercepted a flatbed lorry outside the Hatchingtan travellers' site in Woking, after a report of several thefts of plant from the nearby Slyfield industrial estate in Guildford. This led to the recovery of stolen plant and lorries with a value of £60,000. Last September, Coates and Chapman were arrested on the M3 while travelling in a stolen lorry that was carrying two items of stolen plant. They had been seen to leave a location called The Searchlight Stables in Station Road in Chobham. A search warrant was later executed at this location and £250,000 worth of stolen plant and lorries recovered. Further extensive enquiries led to the arrest of a further defendant, Gary Green, from Farnborough. Green was instrumental in arranging the site at The Searchlight Stables knowing that it would be used to store and alter the identity of stolen items of plant. All three men were charged with conspiracy to handle stolen plant between July 2003 and September 2004 Both The Paddock and The Searchlight Stables were areas of land that had been rented with the intention of storing and changing the identities of plant and motor vehicles that had been stolen from all over the South East of England before being sold on. DCI Simon Humphreys explained: "These men were at the nucleus of a sophisticated and prolonged criminal campaign that involved the theft of lucrative plant machinery. "The long and far-reaching inquiry, that involved gathering DNA, fingerprint and documentary evidence at a range of locations across the county reflects the force's  commitment to solving more crime and improving detection rates and successfully  thwarting a growing trend of criminality in Surrey and the South East." Half a million pounds worth of stolen plant and motor vehicles were returned to their rightful keepers.