Stolen equipment requires identification
- Details
The equipment was retrieved on 13 September in a joint operation between Argentinian police forces, the NYPD major crimes squad, the FBI and the US embassy. The authorities said 10 raids had been carried out, with the kit believed to have been stolen from the USA and rented out to film and TV production companies on the black market in Argentina.
ESTA’s Production Equipment Rental Group (PERG) worked closely with the police to coordinate the identification of the recovered items via its searchable online database for missing equipment, Rental Guard.
Martin Pastor, NYPD major case squad detective, comments: “We have recovered over $10m in stolen equipment thanks to Rental Guard. I urge anyone who suffers a theft to post it on the database immediately, and anyone considering buying used equipment to search the database first to make sure the item is not stolen.”
He adds: “I would especially like to thank the members and staff of PERG for their vital assistance in the recovery. Everyone I contacted made themselves immediately available to help. This was a joint effort that could not have been accomplished without their participation.”
ESTA has released a list of equipment for identification. Those who believe any of the items belonged to them should submit a police report or an original bill of sale with serial numbers to argentinarecovery@esta.org.
(Jim Evans)
