Battering cam! Unique view of raid on suspected foreign criminals in the West Midlands

Operation Trivium has seen dozens of officers from Poland, Romania and Lithuania fly in to work with police to apprehend law breakers.

At least 27 people have been arrested in the West Midlands and at least 10 in Staffordshire, with numbers rising daily.

And now, officers have released this footage giving a unique viewpoint on their blitz.

In total over 600 vehicles were stopped, 59 seized and another 685 people spoken to by officers.

A further 104 enforcements have been made - meaning people being handed fixed penalty notices or given cautions.

Four Romanians suspected of carrying out a series of high-value raids at retail parks across the Midlands were spotted on the M6 and were arrested on suspicion of theft.

Three men aged 21, 24 and 30, plus a 22-year-old woman are currently being held in police custody accused of stealing clothing from a Northampton store.

Several suspected stolen items were recovered from the boot of the Ford Focus – alongside a list of postcodes for retail parks across the region – whilst the car was seized for being driven without insurance and on a provisional licence.

And on Wednesday, officers in Wolverhampton accompanied by a Romanian colleague took part in a lockdown in the Park Village area of the city and arrested one drink drive suspect for skipping court bail.

Police said his identity was established using a mobile fingerprint ID device.

Overseas officers confirmed his identity as 29-year-old Marius Stulgintckis, a Lithiuanian living in Merridale. He has now been taken back to court to answer the drink drive charge and failing to answer bail.

A Polish man was arrested in Smethwick on suspicion of an £11,500 fraud.

West Midlands Police Superintendent Paul Keasey, said: "Local officers found it very useful in assisting them identify a number of Romanians who've previously suggested they spoke no English or gave wrong details.

"It's great to have that insight on the ground with our own officers."

As part of the operation forces from the continent join up with neighbourhood policing teams go out on patrol and try and identify crooks who have committed offences back in their native country.

Pc Donald Gordon of the Heath Town neighbourhood police team said: "Many of the offenders have outstanding European arrest warrants that we are trying to chase up. Obviously some don't speak English so it helps to have an officer from their own force to aid us in a communication point of view."

Police in Coventry attached a camera to a battering ram and filmed themselves raiding a number of properties, including a suspected brothel.

One bungling thief unwittingly stumbled upon the operation when he tried to steal number plates from a white transit van – which turned out to be an unmarked police vehicle.

The 50-year-old, from Smethwick, was spotted unscrewing the registration plates from a van in Foleshill, in Coventry, at 7pm on Wednesday.

But he was arrested on suspicion of theft and going equipped to steal when officers followed him. West Midlands Police confirmed the man was arrested for swiping the number plates from a parked van, blissfully unaware he had singled out an unmarked police vehicle.

Officers followed him a short distance where he was seen discarding the Vehicle Registration Markers before being arrested by officers who found him concealing a screwdriver and roll of bin-liners.

The force's Traffic Unit @TrafficWMP tweeted last night: "Officers working as part of #OpTrivium…arrested one man having been observed to remove number plates from one of our unmarked vehicles! Bad choice of car…our number plates, the cheek!"

The man was arrested and was bailed until next month.