COUNTY Durham police have seized dozens of stolen cars as part of a major crackdown on vehicle crime.

The force, together with their counterparts in Cleveland, North Yorkshire and Northumbria, has been taking part in Operation Outlaw, launched last month.

It targets modern day "highwaymen" who, in the past year, have stolen more than 22,000 cars in the region.

Since the operation began, County Durham Police have inspected 120 so-called Q-registration cars and seized 35.

Sixteen have so far been found to be stolen and a number of arrests have been made.

The Q system of vehicle registration was originally designed for cars rebuilt after crashes, to alert buyers to their questionable histories.

However, police say that the system has been hijacked by criminals seeking to hide the fact that the vehicles are stolen.

Detective Sergeant Alan Morris said: "I am quite happy with the way it has gone so far. But there are about 350 Q licensed vehicles in County Durham and we have only examined about half of them.

"We are not just leaving it at that though. We will be assessing what we have done and passing information on to officers around the county."

Operation Outlaw has resulted in 151 arrests for vehicle crime across the North-East since it started on September 18.

Tactics used by the police have included carrying out raids on premises suspected of being used to store vehicles and monitoring car crime "hot-spots".