CARING police officers have been saddened by a setback in the countdown to their last mercy mission to Romania.

Their stores of aid, waiting to be loaded into four wagons for the annual trip, have been targeted by thieves who stole 180 five kilogramme bags of salt from a Leyland warehouse.

Police from Accrington will be joining other members of the Lancashire force for the seventh year to travel to Hateg, in the Carpathian mountains.

They began the mission when they saw the plight of the Romanian people on television during the Ceausescu regime and decided they wanted to help. A member of the force knew a doctor in Hateg and it was through him that the trips were arranged.

The four lorries take about 20 tonnes of aid each, including food, toothpaste, bleach and drugs, and local companies help out with donations of cash and goods.

These are distributed to orphanages and hospitals in the region.

But officers now say the country has changed so much they have decided this will be their last trip.

Sergeant Frank Gregson, of Accrington Police, said: "The area isn't primitive but it is very rustic.

"Our aid has been vital to them, but one or two big companies are settling there now and Romania is vastly improving.

"We are making this one last trip and are discussing whether to start taking aid convoys to other needy people."

They will be leaving on April 20 from the Lancashire Business Enterprise Park in Centurion Way, Leyland, and the trip will last two weeks.

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