Police arrest 11 in overnight attempted burglary and theft crackdown

12.05.2022 - 18:43 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Eleven people have been arrested as part of a police crackdown on attempted burglaries and thefts across Greater Manchester.

Cops used help from interceptor vehicles and the dog unit to make the busts, which is part of Operation Castle. The 11 arrested were apprehended after incidents in Manchester, Rochdale, and Tameside overnight.

One star of the show was police dog Jaeger, who detained a teenage thief suspect, after officers from GMP’s Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit (TVIU) pursued a car in Heywood.

READ MORE: GOOSE causes 'explosion', fire and power cut

Officers believed that car to be stolen last night, before three occupants abandoned it. The three teenagers – aged between 16 and 19 – remain in custody to be questioned on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle.

The unit continued to make arrests into the early hours in Tameside ‘after a car we pursued was left abandoned on tram tracks before two occupants were arrested’, GMP added.

Elsewhere, in Manchester, officers responded to a report of thieves in the Strangeways area and stopped a suspicious vehicle where four occupants were taken to custody on suspicion of going equipped to steal. And in the centre of the city, two men – aged 28 and 36 — were taken to custody on suspicion of robbery.

Those arrests fell under ‘our dedicated operation to tackle knifepoint personal thefts in the city – Operation Valiant’, a statement went on.

In all, GMP made 137 arrests over the last 24 hours. GMP says ‘burglary, robbery, and car crime [are] some of our key priorities to drive down crime and protect the public and their property from harm’. It added: “We will take action on reports made to us and pledge that every report of a burglary is attended by an officer and all lines of