Motorway targeted in crackdown on cross-border crime

Officers in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire joined forces to tackle house and distraction burglars and car thieves in Operation Deny, which ran from March 21 to April 3.

Superintendent Gary Knighton, who led the Derbyshire operation, said: “The three forces always work closely together and we know that criminals cross county borders to commit offences.

“The aim of Operation Deny was to deny criminals the opportunity to offend, stop them using the road network unchecked, make sure they couldn’t benefit from crime and to make them face the consequences of their actions.”

Officers carried out checks at scrap metal companies and second-hand shops to track down offenders and recover stolen property. Search warrants were executed at the homes of suspects. Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) equipment in police cars was used to identify suspicious vehicles and their occupants.

Supt Knighton added: “We targeted our resources on disrupting the plans of people who come into our county to commit crime, identify and arrest offenders as well as seizing their assets and recovering stolen property. The operation has been extremely successful. More than 69 people were arrested, several have been charged and 44 vehicles and four caravans have been recovered. We estimate that more than £1m worth of assets have been seized in total.”