A national campaign targeting travelling foreign criminals has been launched by police forces across the UK, including West Yorkshire.

Officers from Romania, Poland and Lithuania are working with local officers to catch travelling gangs using roads to move around the country and avoid detection. Some of the overseas officers will be joining UK officers to carry out roadside checks.

The foreign gangs are thought to be involved in offences such as metal theft, fraud, shoplifting and thefts from vehicles.

North Yorkshire Police is also involved and Temporary Inspector Paul Cording, of the Roads Policing Group, said: “By working together with colleagues across the UK and Europe, we send a very strong message that we are all united in our ultimate aim of denying criminals the use of our road networks.”