But the search has been called off for 16 similiar fish initially believed taken from Grahamsfield, Kirkpatrick Fleming — after they were discovered hiding at the bottom of their pool.
Police at first connected the disappearances, as Constable Michelle Hamill from Police Scotland at Gretna Police Office said: “This is a very unusual type of theft for our area, and certainly to have two similar thefts, only a few miles apart and in such a short timescale does add to the theory that they may be linked.”
However, Constable Hamill added that police were ‘keeping an open mind’ over the fish which went missing in Grahamsfield between Sunday May 31 and Monday June 1, which proved prescient when the Kirkpatrick Fleming fish finally surfaced.
Police announced on Tuesday that the stolen ‘ornamental’ fish had now been found by the owner lurking at the bottom of the pond.
The fish from Springfield still remain missing.
They were stolen from a house in Newton Square some time between 5.30 am and 6.30 am on Tuesday April 21.