A CRACKDOWN on cross border criminals involving more than 250 police officers has been hailed a massive success after it saw 41 people arrested for a number of offences.

Criminals travelling across the borders between Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales were targeted yesterday, Wednesday, as part of Operation Crossbow.

The joint operation was aimed at disrupting criminal activity across the region and denying criminals the use of the roads.

Officers set up in various locations across Ellesmere Port, Chester, Northwich and Merseyside.

The operation, led by Detective Superintendent Paul Williams from Cheshire Police, was a great success, with a total of 41 arrests across Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales.

The offences included drugs related crimes, court warrants, theft and driving offences, including disqualified driving.

More than 100 vehicles were stopped during the day of activity, with 22 vehicles seized and 16 fixed penalty notices issued for a variety of non-endorsable road traffic offences. Other results included 22 traffic offence reports and 18 partner enforcement offences.

Supt Williams said: "We know that criminals do not simply stop committing crimes when they reach the police border, but instead they rely on the road network to enable them to commit criminal offences across the north west.

"There is a strong link between the illegal use of vehicles and other serious and organised crime, which is why we are working together with our colleagues from Merseyside and North Wales Police, along with partner agencies, to target these criminals as they travel across the region.

"This is one of the largest partnership operations Cheshire Police has ever undertaken, with more than 250 officers taking part. These officers all have access to technology and intelligence such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), which is an excellent tool to allow officers to identify offenders and bring them to justice."

In addition to targeting criminals on the road network, officers from Cheshire Police also undertook a number of drugs warrants across the West Cheshire area as part of the operation.

In total officers conducted six warrants for drugs related offences.

Supt Paul Levick from Merseyside Police said: "We are relentless in our pursuit of organised crime and will use a whole host of tactics to disrupt criminals working in our region.

"The operation was focused on restricting the ability of criminals to travel on the region′s networks and provides us with an effective way of reducing their ability to commit crime.

"We want to ensure that motorists travelling on the region′s roads can do so safely and to send out the message that we take robust action against anyone found to be involved in criminal behaviour or driving illegally.

"We continually use our resources and ANPR technology to bring offenders to justice, recover stolen vehicles and to reduce crime in our communities so be warned - if you are using a stolen vehicle or any other vehicle to commit crime, you will be caught."

Supt Sacha Hatchettfrom North Wales Police added: "This is about using joint resources to make the roads in our region a hostile place for travelling criminals who do harm in our communities.

"We are using dedicated resources and ANPR technology to identify and target criminals using the road network and it is heartening to see our partners, which include Driver Vehicles Standards, the Environment Agency, HMRC, the Licensing Authority and Trading Standards, supporting this extensive police operation.

"The message is clear - you use stolen vehicles, you drive illegally, you travel the roads to commit crime, then we will target you."

Cheshire Supt Paul Williams added: "Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales Police are committed to working in collaboration to proactively target those who choose to commit crime to fund their lifestyles and operations such as this are set to continue."

All three forces are keen to remind the public that they too can help keep our roads safe by reporting illegal use of vehicles to the police on 101.

Alternatively information can be reported anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.