After the thefts of seven cash machines in the past two years, police yesterday raided 11 County Durham homes.

AT 6.10am on Tuesday, December 12, Witton Park, a former pit village three miles west of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, lies quiet.

Curtains are closed, house lights turned off. But the quiet is not to last.

At 6.15am, two police officers, one brandishing a bright red metallic battering ram, the other armed only with strong soles, attack a front door. From that point on, things move very fast.

The officer who attempted to kick the door in falls to the floor, the UPVC having beaten off his challenge.

Thankfully, his partner is more successful, and the barrier is breached.

To calls of "Police, police", about a dozen officers rush into the house.

They are searching for the people behind a number of thefts reaching from the Firth of Forth in the North to beyond York in the South.

By 7.30am, police have arrested ten people - five in Witton Park, four in Bishop Auckland and one in Durham City.

Eight are held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary. A teenager is held on suspicion of assaulting an officer and a pensioner is held on suspicion of money laundering.

At 8.30am, the man behind the raids, Durham Police Assistant Chief Constable Michael Banks, declares them to have been a success. Job done.

Four hours earlier, it had all been so different. At 4am, about 300 tired officers are crowded into a Durham city lecture theatre, finishing off bacon sandwiches and pick-me-up coffees.

A man with a laptop computer and a projector gives a 45-minute presentation on how the raids should work. Throughout, a slow drum beat is audible. Probably an apprehensive rookie tapping his foot.

Once the excitement of forcing entry into the Witton Park home is over with, the street goes strangely quiet again. No neighbours are stirred by the commotion. No bedroom lights flick on.

At about 7.15am, one man leaves his house, puts a sports bag into the boot of his car, and goes to start his day. As if he is used to the scene.

Between 7.10am and 7.25am, three suspects are brought out of a house. Flashbulbs light up the faces, the offer of a microphone is declined, and they are gone.

The assembled journalists and some of the officers pack up and return to headquarters. Another bacon sandwich awaits.

And Witton Park returns to its quiet, front room curtains still tightly closed.