If you are offered a Webley Nemesis Combo air rifle by a private seller, be aware it may be stolen property. Thieves are thought to be using a WhatsApp group to sell 600 of the newly-launched Nemesis airguns that they took from a lorry in a layby.
The guns were in transit from their port of entry, Southampton, to Webley’s warehouse in the Midlands, along with a consignment of oven parts and toothbrushes. The driver, who works for a subcontractor of Eagle Freight, was asleep.
A statement from Webley importer Highland Outdoors says: ‘Please be aware that we had our first shipment of the Webley Nemesis X Combo Rifles stolen in transit. This theft occurred between 8pm on Wednesday February 17 and 6am on Thursday February 18 while the lorry was parked up for the night in a layby on the A4304 Lutterworth Road.’
Since then, the stolen airguns have been surfacing. The new owner of a Nemesis combo walked into a Highland Outdoors dealer asking to buy CO2 for it. Highland Outdoors has passed his details to the police.
Another new Nemesis combo owner even contacted Highland Outdoors via Facebook to check to see if his airgun was under guarantee. Highland Outdoors has passed his details to the police.
Highland Outdoors has the serial numbers of all the guns stolen. However, the easiest way to spot them is the Webley scope and moderator they come fitted with and the packaging reflects this. Highland Outdoors statement says: ‘These new 88g powered Nemesis Combo airguns are unique and this is the first shipment of these guns to land in the country (and the world) so will be very easy to pick out. They are in new Webley packaging and have the scope fitted to each airgun.
‘We are working closely with the Police, however expect that these guns will most likely be attempted to be on-sold somewhere, so we ask all our customers to keep your eyes and ears out if you hear anything.’
Anyone with information should call police on 101 quoting reference 21000096871.
See Highland Outdoors’ Facebook post about the theft here.
