BREWERY equipment worth almost £25,000 has been recovered by Camborne police in an operation which has led to four people being arrested.

The problem now is finding the owners of 60 empty beer barrels currently being stored at Camborne police station.

Keltek Brewery, on Redruth's Cardrew Industrial Estate, alerted police because items of equipment were going missing.

Factory manager James Wills-Jose said specialist brewing equipment had gone missing over a period of a couple of months.

Arrested

PC Matt Trevivian executed a search warrant at an address in Goonhavern, near Truro, recovering a large quantity of suspected stolen property.

PC Ian Cocklin then executed another search warrant in the Truro area and recovered further items, as well as a quantity of drugs.

Two men were arrested and are presently on bail while officers continue their enquiries.

PC Cocklin said that, working with officers at Gatwick Airport, a man and a woman were arrested when they returned to the UK from holiday.

Officers from Camborne went to London to interview them. They are on police bail pending further investigation.

The empty beer barrels are each worth about £70 and police are anxious to track down their owners. Like cars, the items each have a unique registration number which should help in finding their rightful owners.

PC Cocklin added: "We are asking for help because up to now we have been able to identify the owners of only nine barrels."

Keltek, which produces up to 9,000 gallons of beer a week, moved to the Redruth site a couple of years ago from Lostwithiel.

● Anyone missing any beer barrels is asked to contact the police, quoting incident number AC/10/402.