A BURGLARY at a city shop linked to other raids has now sparked eight arrests with more gang suspects brought in for questioning.

West Mercia Police, working alongside other forces, has now made eight arrests in total in connection with burglaries at Argos stores including one in Blackpole, Worcester - with six of those arrests coming within just 24 hours.

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We have already reported on two burglaries in South Worcestershire - one in Blackpole in Worcester and the other in Evesham as a gang of thieves targeted high-value electrical goods.

Thousands of pounds of laptops were stolen during the raid at Argos in Blackpole's Elgar Retail Park. The raid forced staff at the store to close temporarily. Arrests were made of two suspects from Coventry but the fast-paced operation has now seen arrests in other areas, including in Wales and across the West Midlands.

Worcester detectives are now leading the investigation into a series of nationwide raids on Argos stores, bringing several suspects into Worcester Police Station to answer questions.

DI Dave Knight of South Worcestershire Priority CID, based at Worcester Police Station in Castle Street in Worcester, said:  "Intelligence led policing led to the arrest of five suspects in the early hours of Monday morning in the Gwent area.

"South Worcestershire Proactive CID is leading the investigation and have brought three of the suspects to Worcester for interview.

"Proactive CID have now arrested a further suspect in Staffordshire this morning (Tuesday). The suspects are housed at Worcester custody and are from Coventry and Staffordshire."

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These photos show some of the stolen laptops 'worth thousands' seized from an overgrown grass area near a Worcester bridge following a raid on the Argos store in the city's Blackpole on Sunday, January 8.

The raid followed another break-in at Argos in Evesham on Friday, January 6 during which electrical items were stolen. They have yet to be recovered.

DI Knight of South Worcestershire Priority CID, added: "We are working hard to build charges in readiness to get suspects to court."

DI Knight said goods were recovered from near the store and work is underway as part of an ongoing investigation after what he said had been an 'unprecedented' number of commercial burglaries in Worcestershire since Christmas Day.

There have been 14 arrests for burglary since Christmas Day in what has been an unusually busy period for West Mercia's burglary team.