The UK's National Farmers' Union (NFU) is recommending that farmers should take greater care with GPS antennas and smart video displays on farm machinery, according to national media. The warnings come as a result of an increase in theft of these devices at peak times in the fields.

Last year alone, farmers suffered losses of €4.91 million due to these thefts, with the number of thefts rising by as much as 137%.

According to reports, an organised gang of Lithuanian thieves has been on the rampage in the UK for the past few years.

In 2021, law enforcement officers, working together with German and UK officials, broke up a network of Lithuanian thieves, confiscating as many as 80 GPS units and their video screens. 23 of them were stolen in the UK. The rest – in several European countries.

The thieves then took advantage of farmers' busy schedules to travel from village to village, stealing thousands of euros worth of equipment.

In November 2023, two more Lithuanians were jailed for stealing as many as 48 GPS units worth a total of 234,000 euros from British farmers in 2022.

Tomas Staukauskas, 32, and Mantas Palionis, 31, were then arrested by Humberside Police along with the evidence. The police discovered that the offenders had been stealing the same car at different locations.

Interestingly, the GPS units were wrapped in foil. This makes it more difficult to detect the devices' signal. The car itself had fake number plates.

According to insurance companies, the cost of insuring devices stolen from farmers was €2.11 million in 2022, so it is no coincidence that the NFU is reporting a significant increase in losses this year.

Thieves often target several farms in one night and then change location. A few weeks later, they often revisit the farms to steal any replacement GPS units.

How to at least partially protect yourself against the theft of expensive equipment, wrote here.