POLICE have arrested two men following the theft of oil drums from Isle of Wight pubs.

Hampshire Constabulary officers arrested a 19-year-old man and a 44-year-old man, both from Enfield, London, on suspicion of theft.

A van containing a number of oil drums was also seized by police.

A police spokesperson said: "We’re aware of some discussion over the weekend (on social media) about suspicious activity relating to cooking oil drums being taken from pubs across the Island.

"Teams including the High Harm team have been looking into this – we’d received reports over the weekend from a number of pubs about this issue.

"We are investigating the full circumstances surrounding this and are treating this as theft at this time.

"The two men have been bailed with conditions until January 28 while enquiries into the circumstances continue."

Among the pubs who reported the thefts were Chequers Inn in Rookley, The Sun Inn in Calbourne, Yarbridge Inn in Brading, and The Fighting Cocks near Arreton.