Five youngsters have been charged by police after being found inside the dilapidated Letham Grange hotel.
They were apprehended after a major emergency turnout at the one-time luxury resort over the festive period.
It came just weeks after 999 chiefs warned of the pressure in dealing with intruders at abandoned Angus buildings.
Letham Grange is high on the list of local troublespots.
The latest incident was the last of around 30 emergency callouts to the old hotel during 2024.
And it has heightened fears over the future of the mansion house after its Taiwanese owners ditched redevelopment plans last year.
Residents make Letham Grange 999 call
Locals raised the alarm in the latest incident the weekend before Christmas.
A number of youngsters were seen breaking into the old hotel. The smell of smoke raised fears a fire had been set.
Police, fire and ambulance were called to the scene.
No fire outbreak was discovered, but a number of youths were found at the scene.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 3.35pm on Saturday December 21 2024, officers received a report of a group of people on the roof of a derelict building in the Cottons Corner area of Arbroath.
“Five male youths were charged in connection and a report was submitted to the relevant authority.”
‘Great concern’ over empty Angus buildings
In December, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service told Angus scrutiny committee councillors that intruders and so-called urban explorers were causing “great concern” at locations like Letham Grange.
And they said the onus was firmly on owners to make their property secure.
“We’ll carry out operational intelligence to make sure local crews are familiar with the area and water supplies are all working.
“But the key issue is to get the premises secured to prevent access in the future.”
Since it closed suddenly in 2011, Letham Grange has been repeatedly targeted by thieves and other intruders.
Photographs from inside the abandoned hotel and wedding venue regularly appear on urban explorer websites.
Last year, the Liu family, who regained ownership of the hotel and golf courses after a lengthy legal battle, revealed plans to return the resort to former glory.
But there was a backlash to plans for hundreds of new homes to enable the project to proceed.
And in August last year they announced they had dropped the idea of creating a new village on the estate.
They said ploughing a million pounds into a detailed planning proposal was “an unsustainable risk given the possibility of refusal by councillors in the context of local objections”.
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