The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Town’s delight as stolen ‘minion’ mascots discovered and returned
A Lerwick firm was celebrating the return of a couple of gas canisters decorated to resemble minions from the popular film Despicable Me.
Two old gas canisters sit outside L& M Engineering’ s premises in Garth spool, Lerwick.
However, police launched an investigation after it emerged the pair had been stolen at some point between 5.30pm on Thursday and 10am on Friday.
Following an appeal for information and announcements on socialmedia in Shetland about the eye-catching objects the two containers were found on Saturday and returned to the firm.
Last night Sandy Laurenson, a company director of L&M Engineering, said: “They were returned to us on Saturday.
“Somebody saw them lying in Staney Hill hall car park just outside Lerwick and we got them back which is a relief because it is an amusement and a lot of people take photos of them when they go past.”
Mr Laurenson also explained why the two canisters were decorated to become minions.
He added: “One was a gas tank canister that was modified to be a stove and someone said with the pipe at the back of it that it looked like one of the minions.
“So somebody painted that to look like a minion. So we thought if we had one we might as well have two.
“The second minion was just anold canister and we welded bits on it to make it look like a minion.”
Mr Laurenson confirmed that both were returned in good condition and will be back on display outside the premises again this week.
He said: “They are good as new and will be back on display but will be welded down to stop them being stolen again.”
“Somebody saw them lying in Staney Hill hall car park just outside Lerwick”