MORE than 1,500 people have now been arrested in the continuing crime crackdown in North Yorkshire.

Since Operation Delivery was launched in September a total of 1,562 men and women have been picked up.

Chief Constable Della Cannings has pledged there will be no let-up in the pressure. "This operation is relentless," she said.

The landmark 1,500th arrest came in York. An Operation Delivery team was bringing in a prisoner they had just arrested on a warrant when they spotted another wanted man, near a cash machine in the city centre.

He was chased, caught and found to have a cashcard and purse on him.

The items were swiftly traced back to a local business before staff had realised they had been taken.

"Striking while the iron is hot is an important element of Delivery," said deputy chief constable Roger Baker.

"But a great many of the arrests are coming as a result of careful, long-term planning, based on intelligence that has sometimes been pieced together over a period of months.

"We are doing particularly well with arrests that come as a result of liaison with our colleagues in neighbouring forces."