Thieves who stole global positioning systems (GPS) from a warehouse in the state of New York have been apprehended after authorities activated the tracking devices to locate them.
Fourteen GPS were stolen last week from a warehouse in Babylon, New York, which the town had planned to use to track its municipal fleet of vehicles.
Police and municipal staff say they remotely activated the devices and were led to the home of one of the culprits who was found fiddling with one of them.
"The GPS device is quite beneficial when we are looking for something, within 48 hours we had the individuals under arrest for this [crime]," Inspector Robert Casagne of the Suffolk County detachment said.
He says the thieves believed they had snagged cell phones and planned to sell them.
Three people face charges.