8:03am Thursday 12th June 2008
By Miran Rahman
Police investigating car crashes deliberately staged to fraudulently claim on insurance raided four addresses in Keighley yesterday morning.
Officers targeted three homes in Edensor Road, Spencer Street and Redcliffe Street and a garage off South Street. They also raided an industrial unit in Manningham Lane, Bradford.
Twenty-one police officers from Airedale and North Bradford CID were accompanied on the operation by officials from the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and the Ministry of Justice.
Two men, aged 24 and 25, were arrested at separate addresses in Highfield on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. The police also recovered a "significant quantity" of suspected drugs, an imitation firearm and seized cash and documents.
The Keighley News accompanied officers to one of the addresses, a terrace house in Edensor Road, shortly before 8am.
Once police had told the occupants they had a search warrant, a relative arrived and led two young children out of the house. Ten minutes later, officers escorted the arrested man out of the house and into a waiting vehicle.
They then began searching the property, helped by a dog trained to detect drugs and money.
A sniffer dog was used to hunt for suspect material at the K and A Auto Centre garage, in South Street. Police used a ram to break into the property. One officer said white powder was found inside the building, but he could not confirm what the substance was.
The police also inspected the licence plates and tax discs of several vehicles parked at the garage. No K and A Auto employees were present at the time.
Speaking at the briefing before the raids, Det Insp Ben McDonald said the five properties were being targeted simultaneously so suspects would not be able to warn each other of the police's arrival.
He said he and his colleagues would be looking for documents such as solicitors' letters, which might be linked to so-called "crash-for-cash" incidents.
Det Insp Peter Craig, of Airedale and North Bradford CID, who was leading the operation, added: "This morning's warrants were part of an ongoing investigation into organised crime involving local gangs.
"Part of this inquiry is focusing on so-called crash-for-cash' and has uncovered large-scale fraud involving contrived motor vehicle insurance claims and money laundering."
Anyone with further information relating to this crime can contact Keighley CID on 0845 6060606 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
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