Arrests made in Luton as police seize weapons and drugs in road network operation

Thirteen people were arrested and two weapons were taken off Bedfordshire's streets last week as part of a regional operation.

Criminal gangs using the road network were the focus of the sting in the county. Vehicle stops, stop searches and arrests were made on the M1 and in Bedford, Dunstable, Luton and Sandy.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology and police intelligence were used to target vehicles on main roads, motorways and the railway network. Drugs worth thousands of pounds were seized as well as tools from a suspected burglar, a knife and a firearm were confiscated.

Across the three days, a total of 160 people were arrested in the region. There were 83 vehicles seized and 22 weapons were recovered. More than £262,000 in cash was also recovered by officers, while a number of enquiries remain ongoing.

Detective Chief Inspector James Panter, from Bedfordshire Police, said: “Organised crime goes across borders and it is only by working together that we can truly tackle the criminal networks behind it.

“These are some excellent results which should reassure our communities of the work going on to tackle this offending and ensure Bedfordshire and the wider region is a hostile place for criminal activity."