Six people arrested in connection with high-powered Audi ram raids on cash machines across the West Midlands

Organised crime detectives raided six houses across the West Midlands and Cumbria on Tuesday to arrest five men and a woman, with addresses in Bloxwich, Bilston and Featherstone among those raided.

The arrests were made in connection with the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds of cash from nine cash machines around the country.

West Midlands Police said that high-powered Audis were used, as well as a flat-bed van used for ramming walls and breaking into the cash machines.

Angle-grinders and "jaws of life" cutting tools normally used to free people trapped in vehicles after crashes were also found to have been used in the raids.

Thefts of jaws of life machines from two fire stations are being investigated.

The six people arrested, aged between 38 and 49, remained in custody today being questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to burgle, conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to handle lifesaving equipment.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "Six people have been arrested as part of a major investigation into an organised crime gang which has stolen cash machines from banks and shops across the country.

"Our detectives swooped on six addresses around the Midlands and one in Cumbria yesterday and arrested five men and a woman.

"Arrests took place in Bromsgrove, Bloxwich, Bilston, Featherstone and Carlisle.

"Hundreds of thousands of pounds has been stolen in a series of nine attacks on cash machines, with the gang striking in Cumbria, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Leighton Buzzard and Towcester near Milton Keynes.

"Five stolen high-powered Audis were used in the spree, as well as a flat-bed van which was used to ram walls and break in to the cash machines.

"The raids fall under Operation Target, our ongoing efforts to tackle serious and organised crime across the West Midlands."