Revealed: How Britain's £800m tool theft epidemic is fuelled by PUTIN - as nicked kit ends up in hands of Russian troops

BRITAIN’S tool theft epidemic is being exploited by Russia in its war on Ukraine, The Sun can reveal.

Expensive surveying tools stolen from construction projects in the UK have been smuggled to sanctions-hit Russia.

It is suspected the laser-guided 3D Leica surveying equipment - costing up to £70,000 - has then been used for military purposes by Vladimir Putin’s forces .

Leica Geosystems ceased trading with Russia after the gangster state’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

But a British police investigation into an organised crime group specialising in stealing tools, has uncovered evidence that surveying equipment stolen here has ended up in Russia.

The sanction-busting tactic is being fuelled by an £800 million-a-year plague of tool theft in the UK which is blighting trade