POLICE have seized 21 illegal off-road bikes and e-scooters found ‘scattered around’ two houses following raids.
Officers from Cheshire Police also confiscated a quantity of illegal drugs after executing the warrants in Warrington as part of Operation Hard Hit.
The crackdown was launched last year in response to reports from residents of off-road bikers causing anti-social behaviour, riding without helmets in pedestrian areas and actively evading law enforcement on electric motorbikes.
The initiative was designed to curb future irresponsible riding in the area, and officers in Warrington have been working proactively to dismantle ‘groups of individuals intent on causing anti-social behaviour in the town, endangering themselves and pedestrians’.
In the early hours of Sunday, officers executed a warrant at an address on Marshall Avenue in Dallam, following a previous dangerous driving incident involving an off-road bike registered at the address.
During the search of the address, officers found 13 illegal off-road bikes and e-scooters, ‘scattered in various in locations across the house, including in the living room, bedrooms, hallways and in a garden shed’.
Officers also seized a quantity of cannabis from one of the bedrooms in the house. No arrests have been made at this time.
The following day, Monday, officers saw more success with a second warrant occurring at another address in the Old Hall area.
While there, officers located and seized a further eight bikes from within the address.
Following the raids, officers are reminding residents that can expect to see a higher visibility of uniformed and plain-clothed officers across the town, with the higher police presence aiming to deter unsafe driving and catch prolific offenders.
PC Matthew Salmon said: “Operation Hard Hit has been rolled out across Warrington in response to concerns from residents regarding the anti-social and dangerous driving of non-legal off-road bikes.
“This unsafe use of motorbikes in pedestrian areas is a priority issue, and I want to reassure the public that officers will take a robust approach with those causing such harm within your communities.
“Illegal drug usage is closely linked with anti-social behaviour, and over the next few weeks, we will again be stepping up our patrols and conducting warrants at addresses of known offenders.
“This is to further our efforts in dismantling the groups of individuals intent on disrupting and endangering the lives of residents who are out and about in Warrington.
“Having seized these 21 bikes across our two warrants, we have now successfully taken more than 40 non-legal and off-road bikes off of Warrington’s streets under Operation Hard Hit – but our work is not done.
“Our officers will continue carrying out high-visibility patrols in hotspot areas at key times across our town, targeting those intent on causing a nuisance in their community and disregarding the safety of both themselves, other road users and pedestrians.”
Anyone with information regarding the riding of electric bikes, motorbikes or quad bikes in pedestrian areas should call Cheshire Police on 101 or visit cheshire.police.uk
Alternatively, information can be reported to Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555 111 or visiting Crimestoppers.org.uk