AN address in Evesham was among those raided as part of a major international investigation into animal rights extremism.

The operation came to a head yesterday morning when 32 properties were raided by 700 police officers in a campaign stretching from the UK to Belgium and the Netherlands.

A total of 32 people were arrested.

A property in Oat Lane, Evesham, was raided, but no one was arrested.

Police said the raids were the culmination of a two-year investigation into an alleged conspiracy to commit acts of extremism against animal research groups and individuals.

Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Leppard, of Kent Police, said: "To some animal rights extremists, any organisations and individuals who have links to the animal research industry are justifiable targets, however tenuous those links might be.

"The victims of animal rights extremism are not only companies or universities. It is employees, along with their families, their friends and neighbours, who often are targeted in their own homes.

"The impact of these personalised campaigns on individuals is deeply distressing and often involves criminal activity."