Under the new initiative known as Operation Ragwort, the OCGs who target rural communities and are at the forefront of crimes such as burglary, the theft of farm vehicles and equipment, poaching and hare coursing, will be the focus of a regional, coordinated, campaign led by the south-west region’s Police and Crime Commissioners.

Mr Wilkinson said Ragwort – with mutual support and cooperation across the south-west – will provide an intelligence rich picture of the level of criminality enabling forces to better disrupt and apprehend those responsible, making Wiltshire safer for rural residents.

He said:

“We need to further build our capability to tackle those OCGs engaged in acquisitive rural crime, not only in Wiltshire but regionally and nationally and that is why there is a real need to create a new collaboration called Operation Ragwort.

“Operation Ragwort will be an intelligence, evidence and data-led south-west Regional collaboration to robustly tackle rural and heritage acquisitive, and other rural crimes, where information will be collated, analysed and shared with the National Rural Crime Unit.

The National Rural Crime Network has commissioned research into the link between rural crime and organised criminal gangs, and preliminary evidence suggests that rural crime is being used by gangs to fund other criminal activities including links to the international drugs trade.