POLICE chased a lorry stolen from Felixstowe port through Suffolk and Essex before it crashed into a council-owned garage, it was revealed today.Officers were alerted to the juggernaut while it was still at Felixstowe – but were unable to stop it before it left the 700-acre container terminal.

POLICE chased a lorry stolen from Felixstowe port through Suffolk and Essex before it crashed into a council-owned garage, it was revealed today.

Officers were alerted to the juggernaut while it was still at Felixstowe – but were unable to stop it before it left the 700-acre container terminal.

It made its getaway and they then tracked it along the A14 to Ipswich and then south along the A12 towards Colchester.

At the border, Suffolk police handed over the operation to Essex police, who continued to follow the articulated truck to Romford, where the chase ended when the lorry collided with a council owned by Havering council.

Officers surrounded the truck and arrested a 22-year-old man, from the Harold Hill area of Essex, on suspicion of theft of a lorry-load of electrical goods worth tens of thousands of pounds.

He was brought back to Felixstowe to be questioned about the incident and has now been released on police bail while further inquiries are made.

He will return to meet officers again on September 24, when he will either have his bail extended, be charged or released from his bail.

Police said the incident happened on Friday night but details had not been made public before for operational reasons.

They were alerted at about 11pm when port workers became suspicious over the paperwork handed in to collect a container of microwave ovens and its trailer.

A tractor unit brought to the port was hitched up to the trailer – the haul believed to be worth about £60,000 – and preparations were being made to drive it away when the police were called.

The raid was the latest in a series of lorry thefts from the port complex and the haulage yards in the business parks just outside its boundaries.

Last month thieves tricked staff at a depot in Blofield Road into handing over a container of shoes worth £50,000 after it is believed they used false or stolen paperwork to hoodwink workers into handing over the 40ft box.

The box contained more than 1,200 pairs of Fila trainers in two styles.

Most lorry and container thefts around Felixstowe are carried out by professional gangs with final destinations already earmarked. Loads are then quickly split up into smaller consignments and distributed countrywide.

In the past year there has been a large number of thefts from the town including a container load of stereos worth nearly £200,000, Mothercare strollers, bed linen, crayons, wooden trays, beer, vodka and clothes.

The Road Haulage Association says more than £500m of trucks and goods are stolen each year with more than 3,000 loads never recovered.