A CAR-badge stealing craze - glamourised 15 years ago by American rappers the Beastie Boys - has been kick-started by new followers of the fad in Eastleigh.

Although youngsters no longer wear the badges on necklaces, as the Beastie Boys did in the late 80s, they have large collections of them like cigarette cards.

However, Eastleigh police investigating the latest series of thefts have warned the thieves, who are usually young boys, that their collection of badges could pin them with a criminal record.

Inspector Paul Newstead said: "They tend to go for things like BMW and VW badges which the Beastie Boys used to wear around their necks. Car badges have suffered ever since the days of the Beastie Boys.

"It's like when you were a boy you would collect

cigarette cards - now they collect badges. For some unknown reason boys seem to collect them.

"It's so annoying because you spend thousands of pounds on a car and it costs a lot to replace one of these badges. The thieves can also end up with a criminal record.

"We have had kids with between 20 and 30 badges in their possession. Sometimes their older brother

collects them and the haul is passed down through the family. It's a minority of kids but those who do it, do it a lot."

A spokesman for VW said that a new badge including VAT costs about £20.