Almost 70 vehicles stopped, drugs seized and suspects arrested in fight to tackle rural crime

Almost 70 vehicles were stopped, drugs seized and suspects arrested during a police operation to tackle rural crime. Officers across the region have partnered up to take further action against criminal activity in one of their biggest rural crime operations yet.

Operation Checkpoint, which is the biggest rural policing operation of its kind in the country, ran overnight on Wednesday, March 30, into the early hours of yesterday morning, and saw almost 70 vehicles stopped, drugs seized, suspects arrested and targeted initiatives carried out. Operation Checkpoint is an ongoing proactive initiative that targets suspected criminal activity in order to disrupt the organised network and protect communities by acting on local intelligence and emerging crime trends.

Checkpoint runs with the support of Northumbria Police officers from the Rural Crime Team, Neighbourhood Policing Teams, Op Dragoon, and Operations Department as well as the network of Rural Crime Volunteers and partner agencies such as the Environment Agency.