Police raid more homes (From Witney Gazette)

Police raid more homes

12:18pm Thursday 4th September 2008 in Witney

Police carried out two further raids on homes in Chipping Norton last night.

At 6.30pm, officers entered a property in Fox Close. A 26-year-old man was arrested for warrants for failing to appear at court for driving offences as well as breaching a court order imposed on as part of a sentence for a previous offence. He has been detained for court.

At 10.30pm, a further warrant was executed in Cornish Road. Drugs paraphernalia and a small quantity of Class -A drugs were recovered and two men were arrested, but later released without charge.

A third, 18-year-old, man was also arrested; for obstructing police, theft of a pedal cycle and breaching his bail in relation to a common assault charge he is facing. He has also been detained for court.

Det Sgt Craig Kirby, of the West Oxfordshire Priority Crime Team, said: "While these second night of warrants did not result in any serious arrests for drugs offences, we still think this was a good night's work with two wanted men detained for court.

"While the town is one of the safest places to live in the Thames Valley area, Chipping Norton still has its problems and we hope these efforts will go some way to tackling these.

"We are getting a lot of positive responses for the community to our operation and local people hold the key - I am very keen for residents to pass on any information they may have about criminality and we can then act on that. The community can either contact me or the Chipping Norton neighbourhood team via the Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505.

"If you don't want to talk to police and don't want to leave your name, call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111."