Two moped thieves have been arrested after a dramatic chase and a combined effort by officers on the ground and in the air working together.
Officers in the King’s Cross area in north London had initially tried to stop two bikes both carrying a driver and pillion passenger just after midnight on Thursday 19 April, but they made off.
They were next spotted by the police helicopter NPAS using an angle grinder to try to steal motorbikes from a parking bay in Old Street, EC1.
Officers in the air directed a team on the ground to the location and the use of a stinger was authorised by the Met’s control command centre.
However the two bandit bikes split up leaving officers forced to pursue one of them, which was observed driving at 80 miles per hour through a red light.
The suspect vehicle was pursued by officers and attempted to evade police by driving to a traveller’s site in Essex, but officers were waiting at the entrance and successfully apprehended the bike shortly afterwards.
One man was arrested at the scene while the other was successfully apprehended a short distance away after he ran off.
The two men, aged 22 and 24, were both arrested for: failing to stop, aggravated taking and driving away, and attempted theft of motor vehicle.
Chief Inspector David Hay said: “This was an excellent example of collaborative working between officers on the ground and in the air, whose persistence successfully prevented motorbikes being stolen and led to the arrest of two criminals for a series of offences.
“Their reckless behaviour while attempting to escape from police could easily have led to serious injury to someone.
“Moped crime is a priority in the MPS and day in day out traffic officers from my command as well as other units across the Met are relentlessly pursuing offenders with the aim of bringing them to justice.”
