Police have launched a desperate plea for help in tracing a potentially lethal haul of rat poison stolen from a car in Southend.

The four brands of poison, killers if swallowed, were taken from a Citroen 2CV parked in Alexandra Road overnight.

They were reported missing early yesterday. The boxes contained:

Two 250g tubes of Disenacoum

A box of Bromadilone, half in granular form

A blue box containing Flocounaefen

Half a kilogram of Crackdown Deltanetherin

A police spokesman said: "All these poisons were contained within a blue, zip-up holdall.

"We are clearly very anxious to trace this bag because the poison could clearly be very dangerous.

"If anyone does come across it, just take it to the nearest police station. Do not touch the contents."

Anyone with information should contact Southend police on 01702 431212 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.