THIS last year has seen the police in Scotland and throughout the rest of the UK make much firmer commitments to deal with rural crime.
This is most welcome and not before time.
The Scottish farming industry will, however, reserve judgement until the farm thefts which are happening throughout the country come to an end and the culprits brought to justice.
Of special interest this week is the news that one Dumfries-shire farmer is missing 500 more sheep in addition to the 400 stolen from his remote hill farm last November.
To rustle sheep on this scale necessarily requires a high level of professionalism in sheep gathering, handling and transportation, not to mention sophistication throughout the process of moving them on.
Nevertheless, some, if not all, of these activities must have been witnessed by someone, so it is to be hoped that arrests are imminent.
Otherwise, the competence of the country's detection agencies could be called in to question.
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