POLICE in Hexham have helped co-ordinate and man a special operation involving five North of England police forces targeting travelling criminals.

Officers from the Northumbria, North Yorkshire, Durham, Cleveland, Cumbria and Lancashire forces took part in ‘Operation Checkpoint’ on February 4.

The operation is the ninth of its kind over the past two years and was co-ordinated by West Tynedale Neighbourhood Inspector, Kevin Oates.

Together, officers across the North gathered intelligence about travelling criminals; disrupted their use of the road network and brought anyone found breaking the law to justice.

Running from mid-afternoon into the early hours of the morning, police joined forces to patrol key routes with officers from the DVLA, Customs and Excise and volunteers from local Farmwatch schemes.

Police tactics included the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology to target vehicles suspected of being connected to crime, and targeting vehicles seen in suspicious circumstances.

Insp. Oates, said: “The people we target in these operations are active across the north of England and the Borders, using a wide range of vehicles to transport stolen property and carry out other offences.”

In Northumbria, 40 vehicles were stopped, one driver was arrested for drink driving and six people were dealt with for road traffic offences.

Across the whole area, seven arrests were made.