A haul of suspected stolen gadgets seized from a Leeds electrical goods store included laptops allegedly taken in burglaries at schools and council buildings.
Police removed hundreds of items when they swooped on second-hand retailer Media Mania, on Trentham Street in Beeston, in a morning raid in October last year.
Officers have since been carrying out painstaking inquiries in a bid to connect the goods to recorded crimes.
Sgt Jon Arrowsuch, of Holbeck Neighbourhood Policing Team, who led the raid, said the items included nine laptops belonging to Leeds City Council, Morley Academy and a primary school in Bradford.
He said: “On examination, we found files on the computers which related to the council and to these schools.
“After contacting them and providing serial numbers, we discovered that they had all been taken in burglaries.”
The laptops were among thousands of pounds worth of goods seized when police smashed their way into Media Mania on October 18.
It followed intelligence that thieves were using the shop to get rid of stolen items.
Police said there was evidence items like mobile phones that were stolen in Leeds were being shipped abroad.
There were also claims drug addicts were stealing valuables as currency to give to dealers, who would then sell them on.
Subsequent examination of the seized items found several of the sat-navs and mobile phones, some of which still had telephone numbers stored in their memories, had all been reported stolen.
Hundreds of suspected counterfeit items, including DVDs, CDs, handbags and bottles of perfume, were taken by West Yorkshire Trading Standards.
Two men were arrested and are on bail pending further enquiries.
All the evidence has been bagged up and will be returned to the owners following any criminal proceedings.
Sgt Arrowsuch added: “It’s all about cutting off the supply of stolen goods. If we can make sure there’s nowhere thieves can sell stuff on, it will hopefully lead to a reduction in thefts and burglaries.”