MURFREESBORO, N.C.—Earl Burgess never expected to see the return of his semi-truck trailer, which on Feb. 3 was stolen with aluminum spools inside from Narricot Industries in Boykins.

“With the price of scrap so high today, if anyone would steal the trailer, they would cut it up and dispose of it,” said the owner of Burgess Trucking in Courtland. “The folks (police) were on their toes.”

Police in Murfreesboro, N.C., on Thursday spotted the trailer in the parking lot of a vacant restaurant on Route 258 just outside of town in Northampton County, said Major Gene Drewery with the Southampton County Sheriff’s Office. The value of the trailer and spools was set at $40,000.

“We had notified them (about the theft) and they were on their way to get a car and recognized the trailer,” Drewery said.

Parked among other tractor-trailers on the lot, the Burgess trailer was empty, Drewery said.

It was not damaged, Burgess added.

He believes the spools were unloaded from the trailer elsewhere, and the trailer was then taken to the parking lot. It was suspected the spools were stolen for recycling.

Police processed the trailer for evidence and Burgess retrieved it. It will be returned to Narricot, which uses it for storage, he said.

Authorities reported that it’s believed the thief at 2:30 a.m. hooked a truck to the trailer outside the East Circle company and drove off.

The empty spools hold the yarn used for making woven narrow fabrics at Narricot. When the spools are empty, they are shipped to the yarn company for refills.

Narricot uses the yarn to make harnesses, belts and other products used by the military and firefighters, for recreation and in the automotive industry.