Crackdown On Suspected Gang Members

24 August 2012, 11:45 | Updated: 24 August 2012, 11:54

Hundreds of Met Police officers have been targeting suspected gang members coming into London ahead of the Notting Hill Carnival.

Around 300 police officers have been stopping cars on London's six major bridges - Wandsworth, Battersea, Vauxhall, Albert, Chelsea and Lambeth - as part of Operation Pegusus.

21 people have been arrested in connection with a range of offences including sex crimes, drugs and theft.

Mobile Number Plate Recognition systems were used to identify wanted people. Police stopped 192 vehicles, seizing 12 of them.

Detective Superintendent Eric Phelps has told London's Heart it's been a success, saying: "This is an ideal time to do this operation, just before Notting Hill.

"There are some people for whom we have intelligence that they are interested in going to the Carnival to commit crime - we can contain them now. We can detect them and we can stop them going to the carnival."

Drugs dog units were also based at Vauxhall, Clapham Junction and Tooting Bec mainline train stations, carrying out weapons screening at knife arches.