POLICE more than doubled their presence on the roads in West Yorkshire last weekend in a crackdown on travelling criminals which resulted in 26 arrests and 25 vehicles being seized.

The operation was the latest activity to support Operation Viper, now running for a year and credited with 566 arrests and a reduction of 900 burglaries.

Over the weekend eight stolen vehicles were also recovered as officers worked with automatic number plate recognition experts to track vehicles suspected of being involved in crime.

Officers were also put into student areas, popular targets for burglars due to expensive electronic gear.

Superintendent Pat Casserly, who led the operation, said: “Once again we have stopped criminals in their tracks with a show of force and sent a clear message to burglars that we are watching them and will deal with them robustly. In the last 24 hours there were only 21 burglaries reported across the whole county, significantly lower than we would have had if we had not mounted this operation.

“Since Operation Viper began we have recorded our lowest ever burglary figures with a reduction of over 12 per cent for the majority of last year when compared to 2013 – this equates to almost 1000 fewer burglaries.

“These results are great but we want to reduce the number of victims even further. We will continue to target prolific thieves who break into people’s homes, making it clear that they are not free to operate around West Yorkshire.

“Please help us to make life hard for them by securing your home.”