Manhole covers, roofs, bus shelters and even front-door handles have been stolen by thieves seeking to benefit from the soaring trade in scrap metal. Yesterday, their latest victim was disclosed: the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Two huge spare propellers for the craft, said to be worth more than £7,000 each, were stolen in a raid on a warehouse at Leith Docks in Edinburgh, police said.

The seven-foot long phosphor bronze propellers were taken from the facility situated to the southwest of the boat's moorings at Ocean Terminal, where it draws tens of thousands of visitors each year as one of Scotland's premier tourist attractions.

Inspector Steven Gibb, of Lothian and Borders Police divisional intelligence unit, said yesterday that the theft was “incredibly ambitious” and highlighted the extreme lengths to which criminals would go to cash in on the rise in metal prices.

He said: “The two 7ft propellers would have required specialist lifting gear, and a flat-back or heavy goods truck to lift.”

Organised gangs across Britain have stolen millions of pounds of metal — particularly lead and copper — in the crime wave for sale overseas. Despite the credit crunch gripping Western economies, a boom in the construction industry in India and China has led to soaring prices of metal over the past five years.

In one incident last year, brass doorknobs were stolen from a street in the West Midlands, while in another £1,000 of lead was taken from the roof of a magistrates' court.

Warehouse bosses in Leith reported the theft earlier this week, but it was not immediately clear when the propellers were stolen.

It appears that thieves broke into the warehouse after the doors had been broken down by fire crews to put out a blaze in the property.

A Forth Ports spokesman said yesterday: “There was a fire at the warehouse on Thursday, May 29, and fire crews had to break into the warehouse to extinguish the flames. An emergency joiner was called to fix the doors to the property, but as with many emergency repairs the integrity of the security is not what it was.

“It is believed the theft was an opportunist attempt by a group of people who realised that the building was unsecured and seized the opportunity. The propellers were redundant parts in the sense that all mechanical machinery has been stripped out of the Britannia as it is no longer an operation vehicle.

“I would have to stress that the Forth Ports compound is an extremely secure compound, and permits are required to gain admission.

“However, while this warehouse was on Forth Ports ground it was not within the secure compound.”

A Britannia spokeswoman said that various unused spare mechanical parts had been stored in the shed in Leith since the yacht arrived ten years ago.

The theft comes after a bumper month for metal thieves in the Edinburgh area, where police have recorded at least 20 crimes.

It happened two days after criminals put their lives at risk by breaking into two 11,000-volt electricity substations to steal metal cabling worth less than £20.

They got away with just a few yards of cable, which were described by ScottishPower, the substation owner, as “virtually worthless”. Other recent thefts in the Edinburgh area include £4,000 worth of cabling stolen from an unmanned building site, while there has also been a spate of manhole cover thefts. Elsewhere, statues and metal sculptures have also been taken by thieves.

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