MORE than 100 vehicles were stopped and six people were arrested on Thursday September 24 during an operation to detect drivers committing crimes and motoring offences in south Essex.
Operation Keats involved detectives and uniformed officers from both the Essex and Kent police forces sharing information and using automatic number plate recognition technology (ANPR) to identify and stop drivers of vehicles suspected of being involved in crime.
Suspect vehicles were intercepted by marked and unmarked motorbikes and patrol cars and taken to stop-check sites where further enquiries were carried out.
The stops were mainly carried out across the south of the county, around the M25 and A13, as officers kept watch for any suspicious vehicles moving between Kent and Essex.
They were also looking for any vehicles involved in organised crimes such as drug running and people smuggling.
The arrests were:
A man was arrested at Thurrock on suspicion of a theft in Kent
A man arrested at Stifford on suspicious of theft of a vehicle which was found to have cloned number plates
A man who failed to stop for police at Purfleet was later arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, no insurance and no driving licence.
A man arrested at Tilbury on suspicion of attempted theft from a supermarket was later found to be wanted in connection with four other offences in Essex, two in the Met Police area and one in Kent
A man was arrested at Orsett following a short pursuit. He was also being questioned in connection with Class A drugs offences.
A man was arrested at Colchester on suspicion of indecent exposure
A stolen vehicle was recovered, 18 vehicles were seized for insurance or driving licence offences, 16 drivers were stopped for not wearing seatbelts, 22 people were stopped for driving while using a mobile phone, 15 vehicles were found to have no MoT, two drivers were reported for careless driving and various other motoring offences were dealt with.
