POLICE officers in West Mercia are this week taking part in a national operation to identify and tackle criminals who use the UK’s road network to commit crime.
Officers are currently working alongside the Central Motorway Policing Group to identify foreign criminals who move around the country to avoid detection.
The aim is to target those involved in a wide range of criminal activity ranging from shoplifting, fraud, metal theft (including stealing catalytic converters from vehicles), burglary, supply and importation of drugs, money laundering to human trafficking for prostitution.
A range of other agencies including HM Revenue and Customs, Trading Standards, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and County Council Animal Welfare unit are also providing specialist support to the operation.
Codenamed Operation Trivium, officers will be stopping vehicles of interest to establish if the occupants are on their wanted list.
Sergeant Jem Mountford of West Mercia Police said “This will be our eighth time we have run Operation Trivium, and has been a successful deterrent.
“There is an assumption that foreign nationals who commit crime in the United Kingdom are invincible, and that the road network is an easy way to facilitate such criminal activity.
“It is week-long operations like this that demonstrate our commitment to cross-border policing and partnership working to show that borders are no barrier to justice.”
