Problem is they’ve sold on to so many that the trail goes cold and there never found. Car boot sales are the usual places but I carry a uv light with me just in case

Or the local 2nd hand shop.

It could be. I have worked as a Butcher, Baker, Joiner and mechanic. I get the joke but if tools end up on marketplace cheap I am obviously going to but them.

Taken abroad and sold?

Ngl, and I dont care it people comment and say in racist or whatever but it's mainly organised Romanian gangs who are breaking into traiders work Van's, toolsheads, yards etc. And you can literally go to any cat boot sale and see the "used tool" stalls and see literally 1000s of hardworking tradesmen tools they use to earn a living and support their family's. The amount of videos I've seen of people confronting these scumbags is amazing!