Police in 'biggest ever' animal rights raids

May 1 2007

POLICE in Worcestershire have taken part in a string of raids targeting animal rights extremists across the UK and Europe, in the largest operation of its kind.

More than 700 officers targeted 32 properties across the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, arresting 15 men and 15 women.

The "substantial" operation was the culmination of a two-year investigation into an alleged conspiracy of extremism targeting a variety of organisations and individuals, including Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire.

Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Leppard, of Kent Police, said the raids, co-ordinated by police forces across the south-east of England, targeted 32 properties, 29 in the UK, one in Belgium and two in the Netherlands, beginning at 5.30am on Tuesday.

Mr Leppard said the operation was targeting both individual crimes and alleged conspiracy to commit acts of extremism against animal research groups and individuals.

He said: "To some animal rights extremists, any organisations and individuals who have links to the animal research industry are justifiable targets, however tenuous those links might be.

"The victims of animal rights extremism are not only companies or universities. It is employees, along with their families, their friends and neighbours, who often are targeted in their own homes. The impact of these personalised campaigns on individuals is deeply distressing and often involves criminal activity."

The manager of one of the properties, Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre in Ince Blundell, Merseyside, claimed police used "heavy-handed" tactics in the raid.

Dave Calendar said some of his staff were injured as they attempted to protect the animals and some animals had been released during the raid.

Mr Leppard said more details about the arrests would be released later.