PROLIFIC car number plate thieves are being targeted by police after it was revealed one cross-border raider had struck repeatedly in East Lancashire.

Thieves in West Yorkshire are increasingly targeting vehicles in Burnley, Nelson and Colne, councillors have been told, because of the widespread adoption of automatic number plate recognition technology (ANPR).

Crackdowns using ANPR are driving organised criminals from the Leeds and Bradford areas to move into East Lancashire.

The number plates can then be used on getaway vehicles on major crimes such as armed robberies and burglaries.

Insp Phil Davies, neighbourhood inspector for Pendle, said: “Our officers are currently working on intelligence reports in relation to this kind of theft.

“There are thieves from the West Yorkshire are who are coming into Pendle because of the extent to which ANPR is being used there.”

One 22-year-old, Ashar Khan, of Walker Drive, Bradford, has already confessed to carrying out a theft spree this year.

He appeared before Burnley magistrates and admitted stealing a set of plates in Colne last January.

Khan also asked for 14 similar thefts, and 11 charges of making off without payment from petrol stations.

His number-plate victims included six motorists in Colne, three in Burnley, one each in Nelson and Rawtenstall and four in Bradford.

Magistrates imposed a 12-month probation order on him and ordered him to pay £738 compensation with £85 costs.