Derbyshire men arrested in crackdown on thieves targeting lorries

As part of the police operation, a transit van of shoes, thought to be stolen, has been seized.

Officers from Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire police forces spent a week patrolling the M1 and the main roads between South Yorkshire and the East Midlands.

‘Operation Barric’ was set up following an increase in curtain-sided HGVs being attacked at lorry parks and laybys.

Between January 1 and 21 April there were 98 offences in Northamptonshire, 49 in Leicestershire, 27 in Nottinghamshire and 18 in Lincolnshire.

The seven men arrested in the crackdown are from Leeds and Derbyshire.

Sergeant Garry Johnson said: "These arrests show how far people will travel to commit crime and reflect how important it is that forces work together.

Criminals do not commit crime within county boundaries; they use our road networks to travel around committing crimes in different areas then moving on and that can make it more difficult for us to track and arrest them.

"However, by sharing information; making the best use of automatic number plate recognition technology and having officers from different forces patrolling the road network together we can, and will, catch criminals."

Report offenders by calling 101.