12 arrested in blitz on organised vehicle crime in Midlands
Stolen vehicles and weapons were recovered as 12 people were arrested in a blitz on organised vehicle crime across the Midlands.
Dozens of traffic cars, including vehicles from West Midlands, West Mercia and Staffordshire Police, teamed up to form a ‘ring of steel’ around the region for the operation.
As well as the arrests, officers pursued 13 vehicles and gathered intelligence that will help shape future operations and arrests.
A man was arrested on suspicion of theft after a cloned HGV carrying 9,000 litres of fuel in nine barrels was stopped on the M6.
In another incident knives were recovered from a stolen Seat Leon. The driver was arrested following a pursuit around Erdington and Kingstanding.
There was also a lengthy pursuit of a cloned Fiat Punto which was dumped in Bromford before three people were arrested.
An Audi S3 stolen in a car key burglary minutes earlier was recovered. The offenders crashed and fled on foot, but the vehicle will now be forensically examined.
And a man was arrested in Coleshill who was wanted for domestic violence who was found because his car’s details had been circulated between officers.
The operation ran on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
Sgt Mitch Darby, from West Midlands Police’s roads policing unit, led the operation.
He said: “This was a really good operation which disrupted criminals as far south as Warwick and as far north as Lichfield, and all across the West Midlands.”
