Six people arrested as part of investigation into organised crime
It's after cash machines were stolen from banks and shops
Six people have been arrested as part of a major investigation into an organised crime gang which has stolen cash machines from banks and shops across the country.
Detectives swooped on six addresses around the West Midlands and one in Cumbria yesterday and arrested five men and a woman.
Arrests took place in Bromsgrove, Bloxwich, Bilston, Featherstone and Carlisle.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds has been stolen in a series of nine attacks on cash machines, with the gang striking in Cumbria, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leighton Buzzard and Towcester near Milton Keynes.
Five stolen high-powered Audis for use in the spree, as well as a flat-bed van which was used to ram walls and break in to the cash machines.
The gang would use angle grinders and ‘jaws of life’ - cutting equipment used by firefighters to free people trapped in cars after collisions – to break their way into cash machines.
Burglaries at two fire stations where jaws of life were stolen are being investigated.
The suspects, aged between 38 and 49, remain in custody today being question for offences including suspicion of conspiracy to burgle, conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to handle lifesaving equipment.