TWO men under investigation for conspiring to steal tens of thousands of litres of fuel from an underground pipeline have been re-bailed until next month.

The pair from Salisbury are expected to appear at Lyndhurst police station on October 6 while officers continue enquiries over how more than 30,000 litres of diesel were stolen from a main underground fuel pipe.

Officers discovered that a national pipeline running from Fawley oil refinery to the Midlands had been siphoned at West Wellow near Romsey.

Police arrested the pair, aged 32 and 34, on suspicion of conspiring to steal fuel from Esso on Easter Sunday this year.

The pipeline runs from Esso Fawley Refinery through Hampshire and alongside MOD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, extending as far as Birmingham International Airport.

The 14-inch-wide Midline pipe is 130 miles long and allows petrol, diesel and aviation fuel to be transported throughout the country. It is one of ten underground pipelines in the country and is operated remotely from a control room in Staines.

It is understood the fuel must have been extracted from the pipe over some time.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detectives at Lyndhurst CID on 101.