Two men have been arrested in Darlington in connection with the theft of £1 million of farm machinery.

Durham Police confirmed they had arrested the men after spotting an ‘out of place’ vehicle in the Darlington area.

The police discovered the duo were linked to allegations of “high-value agricultural machinery thefts’ across the UK.

A Durham Police spokesperson said: “In the early hours of Tuesday morning, officers from DRAP spotted a vehicle in the Darlington area, that just looked out of place.

“A stop check of the vehicle and both occupants followed, whereby it was identified that the 2 males within were linked to allegations of high-value agricultural machinery thefts across the country - estimated to be in the region of a million pounds.

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“Yes, you did read that right.

“Both males were arrested, and have since been handed to the lead force for the investigation, in the south of the country.

“As this is very much a live case, comments have been disabled, and details are a little vague, so we can preserve the work ongoing by our colleagues.”