A Christmas crime blitz by police in South Bradford has been hailed a success after it yielded almost 200 arrests in less than three weeks.

Operation Christmas Crime Crunch was a joint operation by Bradford South CID and Neighbourhood Policing Teams and it ran from December 5 to December 24.

Officers acting on intelligence raided a number of premises, executing arrest warrants, and also rounded up a large number of wanted individuals with outstanding warrants against them.

In all, 192 arrests were made of which 57 were for ‘priority crimes’ such as robbery, burglary, car crime and drug and fire arms offences.

Some 31 people were arrested for house burglaries with 20 of those charged and the remainder bailed; some 16 were arrested for vehicle crime and three for robbery.

There was also one arrest for a fire-arms-related offence in the Buttershaw area.

The arrest related to two raids on adjoining properties in Buttershaw Drive on December 16.

Replica firearms, an air rifle and other assorted offensive weapons were seized during the operation.

The suspect, who was arrested later, was questioned and bailed pending further enquiries. The remainder of those arrested were as the result of outstanding warrants against them, according to West Yorkshire Police.

Detective Inspector Mabs Hussein, of Bradford South CID, said: “This has been a very successful operation in which CID co-operated with Neighbourhood Policing Teams in a very effective manner.

“As well as the number of arrests the operation will have had a deterrent effect due to the numbers of high-profile officers and additional patrols in the Bradford South area. We were able to identify the areas which would require more policing and allocate high profile officers to those areas. To have made this number of arrests in just one division shows how successful we have been. Many of the warrants we executed during raids on premises were as the result of community information.”

A revised version of the operation is to be rolled out in the new year.

Det Insp Hussein said: “The operation will continue into the New Year across Bradford South and we will continue to focus on wanted individuals in the area and make sure they are brought to justice.”

He also issued an appeal for people to do their part in ensuring they are not the victims of crime in the weeks to come. “We know a lot of people will have received expensive presents for Christmas and we would urge them to take precautions such as always leaving a light on after the hours of darkness to deter thieves.

“We would also strongly advise people not to let anyone into their home unless they have provided valid identification.”