Two suspected travelling criminals have been arrested by Operation Hawk patrols in Ripon.
The men, aged 22 and 26 from the Crook and Bishop Auckland areas of County Durham area, were detained after being spotted with two lurcher dogs on farmland at Little Givendale at around 7.15am on Thursday 1 August 2013.
Officers seized the dogs along with a Ford Ranger 4×4 pick-up truck which the men had used to travel to North Yorkshire.
The vehicle was also found to be using illegal red diesel.
The men remain in police custody for questioning.
Operation Hawk was launched this week to tackle rural and cross-border crime across North Yorkshire and the City of York.
Officers are using an intelligence-led approach, combining the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition Technology (ANPR) with information gathered from neighbouring policing areas and residents in our rural communities, to disrupt the activities of criminals coming into the county and bring them to justice.
Inspector Paul Cording, of North Yorkshire Police’s Roads Policing Group, was involved in today’s arrests.
Inspector Cording said:
With the introduction of Operation Hawk, criminals coming to North Yorkshire are going to find that it is very difficult to get in and out again without us catching them or knowing they have been here.
We are actively watching the borders and with the technology we have available to us, we can monitor who is coming and going.
We are building up our intelligence and have a number of resources in place around the clock – including firearms units, roads policing units and dog units – to ensure that if criminals do target our rural communities we are ready and waiting to take action.
Operation Hawk has made an encouraging start with a number of arrests already.
The operation can go from strength-to-strength with the help of our rural communities, who by reporting any suspicious incidents can help officers build up a picture of any criminal activity happening in remote areas of the county.
Information can also be passed on without giving your name by contacting Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
