HAMPSHIRE Constabulary has launched Operation Tornado in an attempt to nail metal thieves.

The operation's conception comes after a rise in this kind of crime nationally and locally.

A spate of thefts - ranging from scrap metal being taken to Royal Mail post boxes going missing - has highlighted how Whitehill and Bordon and its surrounding areas are targeted as fiercely as other regions.

Police are still appealing for witnesses to an incident on June 17 when scrap metal items were stolen from a barn at Rookery Farm in Kingsley.

And in April, police were called to investigate the theft of three Royal Mail post boxes in Headley at the junction of Gentles Lane and Fullers Lane, at Headley Park and in Standford.

For full story, see this week's Bordon Herald.