Stolen Property

10th July Environmental activists removed mahogany furniture from Bonds store, a branch of the John Lewis Partnership in Norwich, took the furniture to the police station and handed it to the police, reporting it as stolen property. Despite written evidence of illegal extraction of mahogany from indigenous people's lands in Brazil, the women were arrested, strip searched and detained for 6 hours, before they were released without charge. The three activists immediately returned to the police station. This time the new inspector on duty agreed to look into their claim on the basis that handling goods taken illegally from another country is considered a crime under English law.