THIRTEEN teenagers have been blamed by police for carrying out around 60 per cent of Burnley and Padiham’s burglaries and car crimes.

Now mugshots of the bad boy baker’s dozen have been circulated to every police officer in the division as part of Operation Fagin.

All of the 13 are aged between 14 and 17 and are heading for anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) when police catch up with them.

Four have already been locked up in the first 24 hours of the campaign – and one 17-year-old is now serving a seven-month prison sentence, imposed yesterday by Burnley magistrates, for offences including burglary and stealing a car.

The other trio, aged from 14 to 17, were arrested on suspicion of offences ranging from breaching anti-social behaviour orders to possession of ‘skunk’ cannabis with intent to supply.

Police have said the operation is their ‘number one priority’ in the coming weeks. Inspector Karen Edwards, Burnley’s geographic inspector, said: “These young people are very much in the minority.

“There are just 13 of them but intelligence suggests that between them, they are responsible for a vastly disproportionate amount of crime.

“It is our mission over the next few weeks, as part of Operation Fagin, to round them up, one by one, arrest them and put them before the court.

“In addition to any sentence the court sees fit, we will seek to impose intervention packages such as ASBOs on them where they will have no option but to co-operate with the agencies involved.”

The inspector insists that help and support has been offered to the teenagers in the past – but the hardcore offenders had continued to offend.

She said: “The police and other partner agencies have considered various interventions with these individuals.

“Education opportunities, parenting support and help and advice on relevant health issues for example, have all been explored, but have been ignored, or refused by these youths.

“We have no option now but to relentlessly target these individuals with the aim of taking them off local streets where we believe their presence poses a significant threat to the homes, cars and personal property of other law-abiding local residents.”

The Home Office and Government Office for the North West are keeping Burnley’s figures for serious acquisitive crime, like burglaries and car break-ins, under review.

But the overall numbers of house raids has decreased in the borough over the past five years, through initiatives such as Operations Sherlock and Fortress.

Anyone with any information on crime is urged to contact Police on 0845 125 3545 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.