NINE people have been arrested after an intense day of action by police.

Extra officers had to be drafted in to arrest people suspected of committing a range of different crimes across the Sandwell borough.

Officers from neighbourhood teams, the local offender management unit and Sandwell Police taskforce started out at 5am and spent six hours visiting addresses, executing outstanding warrants and bringing suspects in to custody as part of the intense operation.

They used an array of tactics to arrest nine people for offences including burglary, domestic abuse and shoplifting – crimes typically carried out by repeat offenders who pose the most harm to local communities.

Two prolific burglars were among the number apprehended by the team.

All nine individuals have been booked into custody and are being dealt with by specialist investigation teams.

Sergeant David Rogers, who led the operation, said: “We channelled a lot of resources into a short, high impact operation across all six towns in Sandwell and had really positive feedback from the local community throughout.

“I’d like to reassure everyone that our work is not over. We will continue to do everything we can to try to stop this happening and take action against criminals operating in the area - they should know we’re turning up the heat and there will be no place to hide.

“Operations like this will continue and could happen anywhere at any time. But we need the public’s continued help and would encourage anyone with information about crime happening in their areas to report it."