POLICE are launching a crackdown on travelling thieves who are targeting village shops in the run-up to Christmas.

Stores in Blackhall and Horden, which are on the Coast Road, are attracting gangs of shoplifters from outside east Durham.

One shop in Middle Street, Blackhall, has already suffered several thefts, mostly of spirits and other alcoholic drinks.

Police have stepped up patrols by uniformed officers in the two former pit villages and plain-clothes colleagues are also out on the streets.

Shopkeepers are being urged to use the area's ShopWatch early warning scheme to alert fellow traders if they spot known criminals.

Police are also liaising with colleagues in Hartlepool, where many of the thieves travel from, so that their movements and the vehicles they use can be tracked.

PC Steve Hawkes said: "The shoplifters tend to go for things which are relatively easy to steal and run off with.

"These could be food or drink, cosmetics or toiletries, which are then quickly sold on.

"Shoplifting is a serious offence which costs retailers, and ultimately customers, a great deal of money.

"We intend to do all we can to make this Christmas an unhappy one for the thieves if they come into our area.''

A similar operation last Christmas was hailed a success and led to several arrests.

Police say many of the thieves they caught were in their twenties and thirties and had travelled up the Coast Road to steal goods to pay for their drug habit.