HUNDREDS of Christmas parcels destined for Tavistock, Princetown, Callington and other places in West Devon and East Cornwall have been stolen.
They were taken from a Parcelforce depot in Plymouth last weekend.
The presents all bore the postcode PL or TR (for Truro). Most are believed to have been posted from outside the area or from abroad and they were stored temporarily in the Roborough depot.
Parcelforce was taken by surprise by the volume of parcels received after it had appealed to people to post earlier than usual for Christmas because of the rail crisis.
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A police spokesman said it was impossible to say how many items had been stolen or to put a value on them, but the former number was certainly in hundreds and the latter in thousands.
The thieves broke into four container lorries parked in an open yard on Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
They took what looked like the most valuable packages and abandoned the rest, getting away in a stolen Parcelforce van. Police have carried out forensic and DNA tests at the scene.
'This is going to ruin a lot of people's Christmas,' said the police spokesman. He said it was not clear if the raid was carefully planned or if the thieves had just struck lucky.
Police appealed to any retailer being offered a large amount of new goods with no known origin to get in touch with them. High technology goods are thought to make up a substantial part of this Christmas's presents, with mobile phones making an obvious target for thieves.
Parcelforce said most of the stolen items would have been sent at the standard rate, which carried a right of compensation up to £20. A payment of 40p Insurance cover for parcels could buy £100 of compensation. But the company could not say whether these rules would be strictly adhered to.
It gave a helpline number: 0800 224466. Extra staff are said to have been put on to manning the helpline. Senders (not receivers) of parcels which do not turn up should call the helpline and give their details as well as those of the intended receiver and the contents of the package.