FIFTEEN people have been arrested as part of a major investigation into cable theft in the North-East.

Officers from British Transport Police (BTP) swooped on a gang of suspected cable thieves in Sunderland today during a string of early morning raids.

More than 90 officers from Operation Leopard, BTP’s team of officers dedicated to tackling cable theft from the railway, visited 12 addresses across the city as part of the latest crackdown to tackle cable crime on the railways.

Detailed house searches followed the arrests and a number of items were seized and removed for forensic examination, including mobile phones, computers and laptops, receipts and bank statements.

Detective Inspector Stuart Mellish, who is leading the operation said: “These arrests follow a complex eighteen-month investigation by officers from Operation Leopard. We believe this organised gang have been working together to steal cable, valued in the region of over £2million, from across England over the past two years.

“Railway cable theft is blighting our infrastructure and disrupting the lives of ordinary people on a daily basis, but we have teams of officers dedicated to tackling the problem and who have been really effective.

"Recently we’ve seen significant reductions in cable-related offences on the railway in the North East - a 69 per cent reduction, which is great news.”

Fourteen people, 11 men aged 43, 42, 41, 38, 37, 36, 30, 28, 28, 25, and 24, and three women, aged 27, 27 and 18, were arrested in the Sunderland area.

A 50-year-old man was also arrested in Osmotherley, North Yorkshire.

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