More than 280 people have been arrested and eight suspected chop shops dismantled during a week-long national crackdown on organised vehicle crime. Operation Alliances, led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and funded by the Home Office, involved 32 police force areas and recovered 319 stolen vehicles worth more than £2.6m. Officers executed more than 100 warrants and carried out over 280 stop searches, targeting criminal networks behind vehicle theft and the handling and export of stolen vehicles. Police also disrupted 20 organised crime groups linked to other offences including drug supply, firearms offences and burglary. Chop shops, where stolen vehicles are stored, stripped for parts or fitted with cloned number plates, were uncovered by officers including the Metropolitan Police, South Wales Police, South Yorkshire Police, Warwickshire Police and West Midlands Police. Eighteen people arrested were linked to chop shop activity. Investigators recovered more than 300 vehicle parts worth over £100,000, along with equipment including cloned number plates, key programmers, signal jammers and licence plate printers. At ports, officers stopped and checked 1,090 vehicles, seizing 13 and making one arrest. In Blackburn, Lancashire Police discovered a suspected chop shop and cannabis farm, recovering ten suspected stolen vehicles, 1,125 cannabis plants and about £15,000 in cash. The Metropolitan Police also uncovered a suspected chop shop in an industrial unit in Romford, where seven stolen vehicles, parts from other vehicles and signal jammers were found. More than 50 charges have already been brought, with further charges expected as the operation continues.