The Trivium 5 campaign sees police and partner agencies across 12 countries conduct their biggest and most ambitious operation.

The operation, co-ordinated by TISPOL, the European Traffic Police Network, runs through to Friday 27 November, and aims to detect and deter criminals who use the road network to conduct their illegal activities.

Trivium 5 is being run in England and Wales as well as Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Romania. Additionally, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland and Sweden have just concluded a specific Baltic Trivium operation.

Ruth Purdie, TISPOL general secretary, explained the thinking behind Trivium 5. “Many European member states, including the UK, have been affected by high levels of crimes committed by members of mobile networks.

“Trivium 5 builds on previous operations to use real-time intelligence combined with leading-edge enforcement technology to identify and dismantle sophisticated mobile criminal groups responsible for so many crimes.

“In particular, we will be seeking networks with operational networks across borders, as these represent serious harm to some of the most vulnerable people in society, as well as to the communities and businesses they target.”