A MOBILE fingerprint scanner has been used to arrest three men by police as officers crackdown on cuckooing.

Police and partners are working together to protect vulnerable victims of cuckooing in Hastings.

Cuckooing is where organised crime groups tend to use a property, generally belonging to a vulnerable person, sometimes a drug user, as a base for their illegal activities.

Officers from Sussex Police have been joining with STAR Drug and Alcohol Service and Adult Social Care to staff the 'cuckoo car' – a multi-agency approach visiting vulnerable people who are susceptible to being exploited by gangs associated with county lines.

On checking one address on Tuesday afternoon, four men were found inside the home of a vulnerable person.

All four men provided details that were suspected to be false, and so powers under Section 61 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 were used to request their fingerprints outside of custody.

The identity of the men was discovered by officers using a mobile fingerprint scanner, and three of them were arrested – one on recall to prison, one who was wanted on warrant, and one for breach of court bail.

Sergeant Ben Woods of the Hastings Neighbourhood Policing Team said: "This is a brilliant example of not only partnership working and intelligence-led policing, but the use of equipment and technology available to us which led to the arrest of three people – one of whom was wanted by the prison, and one of whom was wanted by the court.

"We will continue to work closely with our partners to identify and support vulnerable residents in our community."

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