When a rare type of Second World War Enigma ciphering machine was stolen from
Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire last month, the trustees of the former
code-breaking station lost no time in posting details on the Web about how to
spot the machine, including pictures and a serial number
(www.bletchleypark.org.uk). Enigma machines might not be stolen every day, but lots of other things
are, and victims of the thefts are increasingly turning to the Net to try to
recover their stolen goods.
Animals are a surprisingly popular target and there are many lists of
stolen horses on the Web, such as the Scotland Yard one at
www.met.police.uk/1hq/co11/ecpu/horses/horses.htm.
A lot of people are trying to get their stolen dogs and cats returned through
sites such as the Pet FBI in Ohio (www.petfbi.org/stolen.htm),which has links to
other stolen animal sites. There鈥檚 even a list of exotic birds that went missing
during an avian crime spree in Florida at
www.skyeweb.com/birdthefts/stolenbirds.htm.
But the trail on the 1998 thefts must be getting
pretty cold by now.
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Loads of vehicles go missing, and not just cars. In Canada you can look for
your stolen boat (www.bconnex.net/~probsolv/classtol.htm),or even your stolen
kayak (www.marinerkayaks.com/mkhtml/stolendb.htm). Or you can hunt for your
stolen locomotive鈥攎odel loco, that is鈥攁t
www.thegallos.com/stolen.htm. Paintball guns are one of the strangest items that regularly go
missing, judging by the list at www.jerryspaintball.com/hotgun.htm.
Art thieves have to contend with Interpol鈥檚 Stolen Works of Art database:
check the most wanted list at www.stolenart.net. The Art Loss Register
(www.artloss.com) is a private group that does the same, and offers some
beautiful images of the stolen art to boot. On that score, check out the 35
pictures stolen from Dutch artist Henk Helmantel鈥檚 own collection at
www.museumsecurity.org/helmantel/. Ironic that we might never have seen some of
these works on the Web if someone hadn鈥檛 stolen them.
