MORE than 30,000 motorists have come under the scrutiny of police in Greater Manchester during a pioneering five-day crime crackdown.

And a total of 28 people in the county were arrested as a result of Operation Atlanta aimed at denying criminals the use of roads in the north west.

For the first time, all six of the region's police forces, including Greater Manchester, used Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to help identify vehicles which may have been stolen or used to commit crime.

During the operation, which ran between December 13 and 19, some 296,162 vehicles were checked across the North West, with 6,471 cars identified as suspicious and a total of 122 people arrested for a variety of offences, including drugs possession.

In Greater Manchester alone, a total of 35,782 vehicles were checked using ANPR equipment. Of those, 1,365 vehicles were stopped and 28 people were arrested.

The neighbouring Lancashire Constabulary, which co-ordinated the initiative, checked nearly 100,000 cars and made 40 arrests.

Detective Superintendent Ian Jones said: "All the police forces involved in Operation Atlanta feel it is worth repeating in the future. The gathering and sharing of intelligence between the region's forces is fundamental to us driving criminals off the road. "