A HARDCORE of car criminals is being targeted in a police crackdown in Torfaen and Monmouthshire which has netted 21 arrests and detected 200 crimes.

And 150 of them discovered in the two-day Operation Evasive were vehicle related. Inquiries are on-going.

Property worth more £5,000 was recovered, from car stereos to a wet suit. Imitation firearms, shotgun cartridges and air weapons have been found. More than 30 individuals were investigated in the operation and of those, 21 have been arrested.

Months of intelligence work was carried out before this week's "intensive enforcement phase".

Police say the offenders range in age from their teens to their early thirties. Superintendent Jon Burley said: "Those who haven't been arrested are mainly on holiday or have recently been put into prison."

"What I would say to people committing these offences is: We'll catch you'." The rise in car crime is an issue across the whole of Gwent, and the operation is just one of a number being run throughout the area.

In Newport, police say car crime has reached "epidemic proportions" with five cars being stolen every day between April and June this year. Operation Dark was launched on July 1 to crack down on the problem in the city - targeting areas rather than individuals. Police are calling for tougher sentences for joy-riding youngsters.

Police say that in a bid to combat car crime, the public should fit car steering locks and not to leave items on display in their vehicles.