STRIKE squads made dawn raids on eight houses in the Burnley and Padiham as police pulled a Christmas cracker on suspected criminals.

Teams of uniformed and plain clothes officers made seven arrests as part of a major crackdown on burglary and other crime.

The county-wide operation, codenamed Castle II, began with briefings at 6am today.

One strike unit headed by Det Sgt Sam Birtwell arrived outside a house in Burns Street, in the Stoneyholme area of Burnley, at 6.20am and were forced to smash open the front door. One man was confronted on the stairs of the tiny terraced property and police smashed down the door of a back bedroom before arresting two other men and taking them to Burnley police station.

Police carried out a search of the bedroom and the rest of the flat and property was taken away.

During the operation local police recovered about £4,500 worth of property, including videos, tools, benefit books, ornaments, a radio scanner tuned into the Burnley police station channel and a quantity of drugs.

Detective Chief Inspector Garry Gluyas who headed the operation said drugs were the main cause of burglaries with users stealing to feed their habits.

"Domestic burglaries in Burnley are up by 16 percent compared with last October."

Twenty police officers swooped on addresses in Bacup, Rawtenstall and Haslingden and nine arrests were made.

Acting Detective Inspector Dermot Horrigan, who organised the raids, said the people in custody were being questioned about burglaries, theft, deception and possession of drugs. Some of them had been arrested because they had failed to appear at court when facing criminal charges.

A small amount of cannabis was recovered from the Bacup area and officers also recovered a small amount of stolen property from some of the addresses.

Said Mr Horrigan:"I am very satisfied with the results of the operation, which went smoothly and will continue all day."

In Colne division, which covers Pendle and Clitheroe, 35 officers were involved in a three-hour operation.

They searched 19 houses in Nelson and Colne and arrested 16 people.

Around £4,000 worth of property, most of its stolen in burglaries, was recovered, including hi-fi systems and ornaments.

Detective Inspector Clive Tattum, head of Pendle CID, said he was pleased with the results.

"We ran a smaller scheme in this division earlier this year and we already had plans for another series of raids this month when we were told about this operation," he said.

"It doesn't stop here. This is part of an on-going crackdown on crime that will continue. We've been very happy with the results of our morning's work."

He said owners would be contacted if they were matched to any of the recovered property.

In Blackburn and Darwen, police made 19 arrests and a further nine people were picked up by police in the Accrington area.

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