LUXURY yacht break-ins are being foiled in one Ipswich marina by humble shed alarms.Designed to stop spades going missing, the £8 alarms are being used to prevent a spate of break-ins to boats worth thousands at Neptune Marina.

LUXURY yacht break-ins are being foiled in one Ipswich marina by humble shed alarms.

Designed to stop spades going missing, the £8 alarms are being used to prevent a spate of break-ins to boats worth thousands at Neptune Marina.

The initiative is part of the just-launched Marine Watch, the aquatic equivalent of Neighbourhood Watch.

Neptune Marina owner Alan Swann said: "Security is an endemic problem these days. No matter how hard you try, you are up against it."

Neptune has reported five break-ins to police in the last six months. Even though ocean-going vessels have thousands of pounds worth of equipment on board the thefts are mainly unplanned.

Mr Swann, who has owned the marina for 20 years, said: "It's mainly opportunistic thefts, not for equipment but for booze."

Would-be criminals were helped by the marina's accessibility to the town centre, he added.

Mr Swann has written to the owners of each of the 150 craft moored at Neptune describing the security clampdown, which already includes CCTV cameras.

Ipswich's Marine Watch, launched in conjunction with the Crime Reduction Panel, comes after the successful launch of the initiative around the Shotley peninsular.

Reduction of craft crime in Babergh has sparked fears the boat burglars will move east.

Unlike Ipswich's town centre quays, out-of-town marinas fall prey to sophisticated raiders, including "pirates", who moor up alongside the yachts they are about to plunder.

Babergh crime reduction officer Les King said: "The scheme involves stickers for the boats and approaching the marina warning people that the yard is linked up to the scheme.

"We encourage boat owners to report any strange craft moored in the area and the marinas are linked by an internet alert system warning of thefts in the area."