A TOTAL of 55 people have been arrested in east Cleveland as part of a major on-going police operation.

Police have also detected about 350 crimes and say one man taken into custody last week admitted dozens of burglaries of sheds and garages.

Detective superintendent Tom Stoddart, head of Langbaugh CID, said the operation, codenamed Trident, was directed at stopping high volume crime like shop-lifting and burglary.

He said: "Since the operation was launched less than a month ago we have seen a significant drop in crime throughout the area and the success of Trident has a lot to do with that. We have locked up more than 50 people so far and have a substantial number of known offenders still to arrest.

"They know we are coming for them but they don't know when. I can assure them when we are ready we will be knocking on their doors."