Detective Sergeant Ajaz Khan rested on the edge of his desk, briefing the other members of Bradford South's Robbery Team.

The undercover squad - in jeans, sweatshirts and baseball caps - had just returned to duty following the previous extended shift. The day before, as they prepared to clock off, their radios crackled through a report of a knife-point mugging - and the prospect of several more hours work.

While Sgt Khan outlined the current plan of attack, the two suspects arrested for yesterday's attack were being transported to court.

The team, comprising a commander and ten detectives and constables, were recruited from across the force for their expertise in proactive and covert intelligence work. Along with a corresponding team in the Bradford North division and the Major Crime Unit, they have the task of slashing street crime in Bradford. The major offensive was launched after the Government named West Yorkshire among the country's top ten robbery hotspots.

With the morning briefing complete, the team jump into several unmarked cars and head to their first targets. Sgt Khan and three others arrive at the house of a suspect in the Leeds Road area. Ten minutes later, the 22-year-old prisoner is led out in handcuffs.

The next stop is East Bow-ling and the family home of another offender. Relatives insist the man is not there, but the officers become suspicious of movement from a caravan in the back garden. While they reason with the suspect and appeal for him to come out, the man leaps out of a skylight, jumps onto a nearby garage roof and vanishes. The officers give chase briefly but then stop. They have pressing work to do and will return.

While one team heads to the Canterbury estate to pick up an alleged youth offender, Det Sgt Khan arrives at the home of one man on the division's Top Ten prolific robbers.

Det Sgt Khan knocks at the door and has a quick chat with the gaunt-looking resident.

The officers then make one of their regular tours of the city's robbery hotspots, ready to stop and search anyone who raises suspicion.

"There is no doubt that we have made an impact since the team was launched in April," said Sgt Khan. "The figures will speak for themselves."

As well as compiling intelligence on suspects and working proactively across the district, the team also takes responsibility for any robbery reports made to the force, giving them 'Rolls Royce' investigations.

But Det Sgt Khan stressed that robbery still accounted for only around two per cent of overall offending and added: "Although it is nasty for those involved, robbery is not a big problem in this area."

Statistics show that robberies in the Bradford South division dropped to 48 in July, compared to 54 in June and 70 in May.