Catching criminals at Manx border 'game of cat and mouse'

Police are targeting criminals arriving at the island's ports

Catching criminals entering the Isle of Man following the relaxation of Covid-19 border restrictions is a "game of cat and mouse", police have said.

Supt Steven Maddocks said working with the Merseyside and Lancashire forces helped them to build up "a good picture" of those arriving.

Operation Strong Box was launched in late June.

More than 120 vehicles arriving at the ferry port have been searched, with 10 people arrested.

The operation sees Manx officers meet those arriving at the airport and sea terminal and conduct searches based on intelligence shared between the three forces.

Supt Maddocks said the partnership allowed Manx officers to "actually build up quite a good picture of intelligence of who is coming here, what vehicles they're driving and what their sort of network of associates is".

However, he said the pandemic had changed the way criminals were targeting the island, particularly in terms of importing illegal drugs.

"There'll still be things coming through but our job is to continually make it harder for the criminals to try and get drugs or weapons to the island," he said.

"They'll obviously look at new ways of doing it and it's a little bit a game of cat and mouse.

"The message is quite clear, any criminals that want to try and exploit the Isle of Man will be targeted and dealt with."