POLICE are no nearer to catching thieves who stole specialist circuit boards from a university.

In December and early January, thieves struck three times at computer rooms at Durham University.

On one occasion, they got away with four valuable circuit boards and severely damaged a recently-installed £1m computer, but they fled empty-handed following the other break-ins.

The Sun Microsystems equipment that was stolen is easily sold on the black market in Asia and North America.

This led police to suspect that it was stolen to order, by professional criminals who knew what they were looking for.

Following the crimes, they made contact with other forces that have dealt with similar thefts at universities.

Acting Detective Inspector Eric Malkin, of Durham Police, said he was confident their information, along with witnesses and forensic evidence, would lead him to the culprits, described as possibly foreign men with non-local accents.

Last night, a police spokesman admitted that little progress had been made but added: "The break-ins are still being investigated with the utmost vigour."

Professor Carlos Frenk, director of Durham University's institute for computational cosmology, said he believed the thefts were "part of some wider, possibly sinister, operation", as the circuit boards are used for advanced research, in banks, and in military establishments.

But the police spokesman said the thefts were not being linked with possible terrorist activity.