Police recover stolen car in Brynmawr with sting on three wheels

In the latest episode of the BBC documentary Rookie Cops on Tuesday evening, rookie officer and car mad Drew was tasked with joining Keiron of the force's road policing team on an evening shift. 

The two of them began the evening carrying out regular stop and searches in Newport city centre as part of their campaign against drink and drug driving, after the force revealed that there are on average 20 arrests for drink or drug driving every week. 

One car was stopped after the officers noticed a strong smell of cannabis coming from the vehicle. 

A sniffer dog was called in after cannabis was smelt in a car, and an illegal offensive weapon was seized (Image: BBC) A passenger was found to have a small amount of cannabis on him, while a sniffer dog was called in, and an offensive weapon, made either from a truncheon or a chair leg was recovered from the vehicle, seized and later destroyed, while the driver and passenger attended a drug education course. 

Road policing officer Keiron explained: "It's quite common for people who use cannabis, its such a strong smell, to use air fresheners to try and mask the smell of cannabis."

Rookie cop Drew explained that it is his dream to become a traffic officer and focus on the specialism, so to be able to join the team on a shift was a "dream come true". 

The officers set up a sting to recover the stolen car (Image: BBC) The officers were called into a car chase after a stolen vehicle was spotted on an automatic number plate recognition camera, having been stolen from Treorchy. 

Despite being 25 miles away from where the car had been spotted, local boy Drew's knowledge of the roads came in handy and they were able to set up a sting for the stolen car. 

A sting is the use of a specialist equipment to damage the wheels of a car so the vehicle cannot be driven further away. 

The sting damaged three out of four wheels and enabled the recovery of a stolen car (Image: BBC) According to road policing officer Keiron, it is "safer" for everyone involved. Keiron and Drew were able to successfully sting three out of the four wheels on the vehicle, and then proceeded to pursue the teenage driver on foot, while the vehicle was safely recovered. 

The stolen car was successfully recovered thanks to Drew's knowledge of the local roads (Image: BBC)The passenger of the vehicle was arrested at the scene, and an investigation is currently ongoing to locate and identify the driver of the stolen vehicle. 

Car mad Drew said experiencing a shift with the road policing team sealed the deal for him (Image: BBC) After feeling that they had been at the "right place, right time" to recover the stolen car, rookie cop Drew said that the experience had "sealed the deal" for him. 

He said: "Seeing it from the other perspective of actually going out and doing it with them has really sealed the deal for me. 

"That's exactly what I want to do."

Rookie Cops is on BBC One Wales every Tuesday at 8pm, or can be watched at any time on BBC iPlayer.