CHEEKY thieves are today being hunted after they broke into a railway depot and stole sleepers worth thousands of pounds.Around 150 brand new sleepers were stolen from Hadleigh Road depot in Ipswich in an operation which would have required careful planning and the use of a grab-lift lorry or flat bed truck.

CHEEKY thieves are today being hunted after they broke into a railway depot and stole sleepers worth thousands of pounds.

Around 150 brand new sleepers were stolen from Hadleigh Road depot in Ipswich in an operation which would have required careful planning and the use of a grab-lift lorry or flat bed truck.

British Transport Police discovered the theft today and believe the goods were taken between 10pm yesterday and 6am today.

Thieves gained entry to the site by ripping the lock off the gate.

Sergeant Bob Munn of British Transport Police said: "Whoever stole these items would have required equipment to transport them. This was not just an opportunist walk by theft.

"The sleepers are large heavy objects and would have required special planning.

"The items are very conspicuous and would have taken some time to load the sleepers onto a truck and it is likely that someone would have seen something."

The value of the stolen haul is £3,225 and police say the heavy duty sleepers are especially imported from Australia and are approximately 6ft in length.

British transport police are appealing for anybody who knows anything relating to this crime to contact Pc Robert Brignell on 01473 601978 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Elsewhere thieves have stolen more than £30,000 of engineering plant equipment from a roadworks site on The Common, Little Blakenham.

The burglar took a yellow Volvo mini digger worth £16,000 and a yellow six ton dumper truck worth £18,000 between 4.45pm Monday and 7.50am Tuesday.