More than 100 motorbikes seized across Bolton and elsewhere

The total of 104 bikes were seized and 33 people arrested after a police crackdown across Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale and Wigan.

Police say that they were suspected of being stolen, of having no insurance, or of being ridden in anti-social ways.

Detective Chief Inspector Rick Thompson, of Greater Manchester Police’s Prevention Branch, said: “I am really pleased that we have managed to seize more than 100 problem bikes.

“When this operation was launched, we made a commitment to crackdown on these sorts of incidents which have plagued our streets for many years now.

Bikes were seized in hotspot areas (Image: GMP)

“This is a Home Office operation, and we have had some really good jobs over the past few months, where we have used all of the resources at our disposal including operational support from our specialist operations branch, utilising units such as roads policing, drone and motorcycle unit and the National Police Air Service.

“Our work is not done, we will continue to monitor these hotspot areas and take action when needed, I would like to thank the public for their help, the information they have provided either during live incidents or post-incident.

The bikes were seized over 100 days (Image: GMP)

“Their assistance has been fantastic, and we would not have been able to get as many bikes off the roads without them playing their part.”

DI Thompson and his colleagues say that using bikes in an anti-social way can seriously impact on people’s quality of life and be dangerous to people using the roads and open spaces.

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In some cases, this has led to serious or even fatal crashes, while criminals have often used bikes like these for drug supply, robbery, burglary and theft.

DI Thompson said: “Our work is not done, we will continue to monitor these hotspot areas and take action when needed, I would like to thank the public for their help, the information they have provided either during live incidents or post-incident.

“Their assistance has been fantastic, and we would not have been able to get as many bikes off the roads without them playing their part.”

Anyone with any information or concerns about motorbikes being used to commit crimes can call police on 101 or independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.