POLICE have recovered a large stash of stolen goods as part of a police operation to crack down on burglary.

Operation Firewall was launched by Pennine Division police in August this year and since then there have been 93 arrests made for burglary.

Property recovered included electrical goods, video and DVD players, and clothing.

But police are having difficulty identifying the owners of some of the stolen goods to return them. Sergeant Steve Hindle urged people to mark their property in some way so that it can be easily identified if it was stolen.

He said: "As well as helping us to identify who owns the goods, marking things could also help us with evidence against an offender."

Officers are still targeting known burglars and have undercover officers patrolling hotspot areas at various times of the day and night as part of Operation Firewall.

Sgt Hindle said the operation has proved to be a great success.

In particular he praised residents who responded to their appeal for information and have helped secure a number of arrests as a result.

He said: "We have made a lot of good arrests from people phoning in with information and reporting people acting suspiciously.

"People are really taking notice of any suspicious activity now and I would encourage them to stay vigilant and keep contacting us with information because we will respond to it."

At the moment, the police are concentrating on Duke Bar, Burnley Wood and Brunshaw.

Sgt Hindle said they are currently concerned about a spate of burglaries where car keys are taken from the house and the homeowners car is then used as a getaway vehicle. He urged people to hide their car keys away at night.

There has also been a large number of scooters stolen this year. The figure currently stands at 200 scooter thefts and only 100 of those have been recovered.

If you have any information for the police to help the Operation Firewall crackdown you should telephone 01282 425001 or the confidential Crimestoppers hotline on 0800 555111.