Van driver arrested for range of offences during his lunch break

A suspect was found eating a pastry in his van before being arrested for a range of alleged offences.

Armed Policing officers were in Bulwell when they decided to run a computer check on a passing vehicle that grabbed their attention.

After seeing it was down on the system as having links to a burglary, police searched for the van, which had by that stage driven away.

Following that initial spot around 12.30 pm on Sunday (16 June), the vehicle was seen a few minutes later parked up in Broxtowe Lane, Aspley.

Officers then interrupted a man sitting in the driver’s seat eating a pastry to tell him he was a suspect in a burglary from the day before (15 June).

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A television and a PlayStation were both reported as being stolen from an address in Hucknall during that incident.

After being arrested for the burglary, officers from the Armed Policing team started to question whether the suspect might also be under the influence of alcohol.

When a roadside breathalyser test suggested he was, the suspect was arrested for that too, with the officers then searching his van.

This resulted in a lock knife being discovered and seized, along with quantities of cannabis and cash from inside the vehicle.

As a result, the 44-year-old suspect was arrested for possessing a knife in a public place and possessing with intent to supply a Class B drug.

This was on top of the two other alleged offences of burglary and drink-driving.

Sergeant Matthew Reddington, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Armed Policing team, said: “This provided a great example of exactly why it’s so important for our officers to carry out proactive patrols in the community.

“By being out in the squad car, they were able to look up a suspect’s vehicle on the system after it grabbed their attention, and quickly saw it had suspected links to an outstanding burglary.

“When the van in question was then tracked down minutes later, the team arrested the driver on suspicion of burglary, as well as a range of other offences.

“One of these was for possessing a knife in public, which we were able to take off the streets as a result, so this proved to be a really good job all-round.”