Three men have been jailed for stealing electrical equipment, jewellery, and silverware after leading detectives on a chase across Europe. Constantin Dragomir, George Ioan and Claudiu Popa have been sentenced to 14 years and two months between them at Bristol Crown Court for conspiring to commit burglaries across the Avon and Somerset Policing area.
The trio stole electrical equipment along with large amounts of jewellery, silverware and sentimental items such as war medals. in January 2020. Enquiries revealed fingerprints, DNA and shoe wear marks, but police said none matched any records on police databases, leaving officers with few lines of enquiry to investigate.
However, a month after the offences were committed, police in Romania stopped Popa for a traffic offence and found a haul of stolen goods in the back of the vehicle. The officers were unable to detain Popa but they seized his car and it was later established many of the stolen items were from the Bristol area.
