Vehicles seized in crackdown
POLICE have hailed a multi-agency road policing operation a 'great success' after seizing 25 cars and making nine arrests.Operation Utah was carried out across Suffolk on Tuesday with teams in Lowestoft, Ipswich, Bury and two other locations working alongside partners including HM Revenue and Customs, the DVLA, the UK Border Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency.
POLICE have hailed a multi-agency road policing operation a 'great success' after seizing 25 cars and making nine arrests.
Operation Utah was carried out across Suffolk on Tuesday with teams in Lowestoft, Ipswich, Bury and two other locations working alongside partners including HM Revenue and Customs, the DVLA, the UK Border Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency.
Key roads in Suffolk were monitored using automatic number plate recognition technology with officers identifying and stopping motorists suspected of crime and other offences. Those stopped were then escorted to a specially cordoned off central site in Ipswich.
The operation involved specialist police staff, including drug dogs, who helped inspect the vehicles, looking for evidence of criminal offences including wanted persons, possession of drugs and stolen or counterfeit goods.
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Chief Insp Adrian Dawson, of Suffolk Constabulary's road policing unit, said the day had been very successful for both the police and the other partners taking part.
He said: 'We were looking at anything to do with crime - when stopping a vehicle, you don't know what you're going to find.
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'It was a very successful day. We made nine arrests for various offences, including theft, disqualified driving, drink-driving and we gave one caution for possession of cannabis.
'We also seized 25 vehicles, the two main reasons for this were having no insurance or driving licence.'
The team at the main operational base in Ipswich stopped 76 cars throughout the afternoon while more were stopped in Lowestoft Bury, Haverhill, nd Mildenhall.
Chief Insp Dawson added: 'A few people have had their pride and joy seized. The message is that we are here, we are targeting crime and people who commit these offences will have their vehicles taken from them.'
The operation is part of an on-going regional operation involving six forces - Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire - and was last held in Suffolk in February.
