Under-age

drinkers are

the target

AN operation has been mounted in Saltash targeting youngsters who are under-age drinkers.

The operation was launched on December 15, due to complaints from residents about young drinkers misbehaving in the local streets, especially on Friday nights.

The co-ordinator of the exercise was community policeman, Pc Eddie Sheil, who said one arrest had been made with no charge, and four youths were taken back to their homes after drinking too much alcohol.

Besides this a quantity of alcohol was seized, and a stolen motorcycle was recovered.

Although many of the youngsters were searched for drugs, none were found, although seizures included a 'bong' of the type used for smoking cannabis.

PC Sheil said police were requesting parents to check the condition of their sons and daughters when they returned home from an evening out. He said: 'If they are on the street being drunk and disorderly or causing damage, they are liable to be arrested.'

Plain clothes police and officers in uniform concentrated on the troublespots in Saltash during last Friday's operation, this part of a new campaign in a bid to beat the problem of rowdy, drunk youngsters in the town's streets.

PC Sheil has also highlighted the fact that CD players and discs are being taken by thieves breaking into cars parked in Saltash.

Four vehicles, in different parts of the town, were broken into over a period of a few days. Police say CD players should be removed from the car, or secured, to deter the thieves.

They are being taken, it is thought, because it is easier to sell them on the black market than radio cassette players.