POLICE have raided two business addresses and two houses in the North-East as part of a major investigation into insurance and car hire claims made following vehicle collisions.

Around 30 officers from Durham Constabulary’s organised crime team and the economic crime unit executed warrants at MJS Claims, an insurance company in Craghead Colliery Industrial Estate, near Stanley and a garage named PJ Auto Recovery, which is next door.

They recovered files and computer equipment from the two premises and conducted a similar operation at two houses in the Consett area.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Chapman, who is overseeing the operation said: "This investigation has been in the planning for a number of months. We have been looking into allegations of fraudulent or vastly inflated insurance claims which in total could involve fraud offences coming to hundreds of thousands of pounds. Our enquiries are ongoing." One man, aged 41, was arrested on Friday and a second man, 37, was arrested yesterday, (tue) both on suspicion of fraud and money-laundering.

The men, both from Stanley, were interviewed at Durham police station and released on police bail pending further enquiries.

The police action follows the launch on Monday, April 19, of Operation Sledgehammer, an ongoing campaign to target organised crime groups across the Durham Constabulary area.

The operation is designed to target criminals, strip them of their assets and destroy links they have developed to deal in everything from drugs and money laundering, to gun crime and fraud.

Det Ch Supt Jane Spraggon said: "We know who many of these individuals are, and with the public's help we can smash their operations and strip them of their gains.

"Our keywords are to attack, disrupt and destroy. We have had successes in the past against such groups and Sledgehammer is aimed at building on those successes. I am sure all right-thinking people will want to back us in this fight."

Police activities into suspected money laundering have already resulted in the seizure of a number of cars, watches, items of jewellery and tens of thousands of pounds in cash.