Police believed a highly disciplined gang, stealing to order, had plundered a staggering £40 million in property in the late 1980s. Homes of the highest figures in the land were pillaged by the team - dubbed the Ali Baba gang - who swept through Hampshire and at least six other counties. DI Mel McVickers. Of the 4,000 items recovered by the police, only a small percentage had then been identified, linked to 35 burglaries, some in the Emsworth area of Hampshire, which had netted burglars about £400,000. Of the recovered haul, more than 300 items had been identified by relieved owners.