Police quiz animal activists

12 April 2012

A total of 32 people are being questioned by detectives following a massive series of raids targeting animal rights extremists across the UK and Europe.

Police have also seized £100,000 in cash, mobile telephones, computer equipment and documents during the operation which involved 700 officers and has been described as the largest of its kind.

Financial investigators from the City of London Police Economic Crime Unit are assisting in relation to the quantities of cash recovered.

The raids were 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, police said.

Officers executed warrants to enter and search premises in Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Glasgow, Greater London, Merseyside, Worcestershire, Lancashire, Northumbria, Yorkshire, South Wales, Belgium and the Netherlands.

A Hampshire police spokeswoman said: "Police search teams have recovered many items that are of interest to the investigation. Hi-tech crime specialists are examining the computer equipment and mobile telephones. Searches will continue and may last for several days."

Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Leppard, of Kent Police, said: "It is a very large operation, one of the largest, if not the largest, police operation that has targeted animal extremism in the UK."

The manager of one of the raided 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. "They have been extremely heavy-handed in their approach, and the welfare of the animals does not seem to bother them."

Huntingdon Life Sciences has long been a focus both of peaceful demonstrations and more extreme tactics. A spokesman said: "It is great to see the results of police investigations from over the past two years beginning to control the activities of animal rights extremists in the UK.

"The Government and the police have shown great commitment to tackling the problem to help protect biomedical research and all its benefits to society."

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