Seven arrests in crime gangs blitz (From York Press)

Seven arrests in crime gangs blitz

9:31am Saturday 21st April 2012 in Harrogate and Ripon news By Jennifer Bell, jennifer.bell@thepress.co.uk

SEVEN people have been arrested and 32 vehicles seized in a new operation to crack down on travelling criminals and cross-border crime in North Yorkshire.

Following the launch of Operation Vanguard at the end of March, officers have been patrolling the main routes into and through the county to catch and deter criminals coming into York and North Yorkshire to commit crime.

Police said more than 30 per cent of people arrested for crimes in the area have come here from outside the county.

As part of the operation, police arrested five people in a green Toyota Avensis at about 2pm on April 3, when the Vanguard team was patrolling the A59 at Green Hammerton.

Police searched the vehicle and found about £2,000 worth of toiletries in the boot.

It is believed that the majority of the goods were stolen from Morrisons in Harrogate.

The five occupants of the vehicle, three men aged 18, 24 and 32, and two women aged 25 and 29, all from Leicester, were arrested on suspicion of going equipped for theft.

In a seperate incident, a 35-year-old man from Sheffield was arrested on April 5 on suspicion of money laundering after officers stop-checked a Silver Toyota Corolla on the A162 at Brotherton and found £1,200 in cash.

A seventh person was arrested on April 10. A 23-year-old man from Knaresborough was charged with driving while disqualified and driving without insurance after officers stopped a Red Honda Accord on the A59 near Allerton Park.

Chief Inspector Nick Hunter, deputy head of North Yorkshire Police’s specialist operations unit, said: “The message to criminals is clear: we are watching our borders, we are building up a picture, we know who is coming and going, when they are coming and going and what vehicles they are using.”