Night time operation to tackle rural organised crime

More than 60 motorists were pulled over by police officers taking part in a two-day operation tackling serious and organised crime.

Officers from the Rural Crime Team were joined by operational colleagues as well as the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS), Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and the Thames Valley Police Rural Crime Team in the activity which took place at the start of this week.

Check points were set up on Monday and Tuesday evenings (January 23 and 24), by officers who stopped 63 vehicles, as well as trailers, caravans, and plant machinery to check they were legal and hadn’t been used to commit crime.

Two people were arrested as a result of the checks, one person was arrested on suspicion of burglary while the second was arrested on suspicion of drug driving.

As well as the arrests, seven vehicles were recovered by officers, including for offences such as driving without tax and one vehicle was seized after it was discovered to have been stolen.

Rural Crime Officer PC Hutch Hutchings ran the operation. He said: “These two days showed the importance of cross border working between rural crime teams.

“Every stop gave us the opportunity to engage with people about the prevention methods they can take to secure property, assets, and vehicles.

“Serious organised criminality is harming our rural communities in many ways, from the theft of plant machinery, to exploiting seasonal workers.

“Running cross border operations like this sends a clear message to those who are committing crime and travelling through our county with stolen assets – we will use every tactic available to us to find you and stop your activity.”