OFFICERS seized £12,000 and arrested a man for money laundering and immigration offences as a part of a sting that saw more than 152 cars stopped in Winchester. 

Teams from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and Thames Valley police stopped 152 vehicles as part of an operation on the A34.

A man was arrested for money laundering and immigration offences, and £12,000 was seized.

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Resources from across the Joint Operations Unit, including ANPR vans, the Commercial Vehicle Unit and the Dog Section, were deployed along the whole of the dual carriageway as part of a joint operation between both forces that took place on Wednesday, November 23 and Thursday, November 24. 

This operation was part of the wider national Drive Insured campaign, which is running this week, from November 21.

The police said that 152 vehicles, including 30 HGVs, were stopped over the two days with five arrests being made. 

They also seized 26 vehicles, nine of which were for no insurance.

They also issued 14 Fixed Penalty Notices for a variety of offences including for no MOT, not wearing a seatbelt, insecure loads and excessive driver hours.

In addition, safety camera vans detected 982 vehicles exceeding the speed limit.

Detective chief inspector Mike Bettington, of the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, said: “This is one of the biggest deployments of our Roads Policing resources and skillsets for an operation such as this.

“The aim being that anyone driving on the A34 could be stopped by officers who were seeking to detect, deter and disrupt drivers who were committing any offences.

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“As such, we stopped over 150 vehicles for a variety of offences.

“Keeping the roads safe is a priority for the JOU Roads Policing Department and we have managed to take a number of dangerous drivers and vehicles off the roads.

“Road safety is not something to be taken lightly and our Roads Policing Units work tirelessly to keep our roads safe every day.”