Charity bags stolen near Kidderminster (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Charity bags stolen near Kidderminster

4:02pm Thursday 4th October 2012 in News

THREE people have been arrested after a large quantity of charity bags were found in the back of a van near Kidderminster.

The van was stopped by officers on the A449 Wolverhampton Road yesterday afternoon.

In the back were 67 Troop Aid charity bags full of clothing, which had been collected from Cookley village.

One man was charged with the theft and fraud by false representation. Markas Frolovas, 34, of Marshall Street, Smethwick, was due to appear before Kidderminster magistrates this afternoon.

The other two were released without charge.

PC Nathan Finnimore of West Mercia Police said: "We have had problems from time to time across north Worcestershire with a number of different charities having charity bags stolen.

"Charities rely on donations of unwanted clothing and goods for their shops and we do not want to put people off donating, however we are urging them to look carefully before donating items, to ensure they are helping a genuine charity."

The charity bags recovered yesterday are being passed on to Troop Aid, in Birmingham, by the police.

According to Troop Aid, bags with a union flag design are genuine, provided on the reverse it had its registered charity number 1123888 and the name of Midlands Textile Ltd. Troop Aid is not associated with any other company collecting unwanted clothing.

Neither Troop Aid nor Midlands Textile Ltd distributes flyers.

Anyone with information about bogus collectors can contact West Mercia Police on 0300 333 3000.