A man has been arrested after 100 iPads meant as gifts for sick kids were stolen from a children's hospital

• Police in Liverpool, UK arrested a man after 100 iPads meant as gifts for sick children were stolen.
• The iPads, worth over $90,000, were stolen at night from outside a children's hospital, reports say.

A 54-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of theft after 100 iPads worth about $93,000 were stolen from a children's hospital in Liverpool, UK, the Guardian and BBC reported on Friday.

Local police were alerted on November 19 that the digital tablets were taken from a container outside the Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool that night, BBC said.

After carrying out a sweep search of CCTV footage and speaking to witnesses, local police found a man had sold 40 iPads to an exchange store in Liverpool later in November.

A man from Halewood, a town in Merseyside near Liverpool, was arrested on Thursday and taken to a local police station for questioning. He remains in custody, but has not been charged with any crime.

Detective Inspector Steven O'Neill, from the Merseyside police, revealed the stolen iPads were meant to be gifts for children in the hospital.

"These iPads were bought as gifts to give to sick children and their families at Alder Hey children's hospital," he said. "Thanks to the hard work of our officers we have made an arrest in the run-up to Christmas."

"I hope this arrest shows how seriously Merseyside police takes such offences especially at a place that is at the heart of our community and treats so many children and babies with such complex and specialist conditions," he added.

In a similar incident, a man in New Mexico recently stole a Salvation Army minivan filled with $6,000 worth of Christmas presents for needy children.

The theft was carried out while volunteers weren't looking.