Devizes police have launched an operation to clamp down on shoplifting, drugs and anti-social behaviour in the run-up to Christmas.

Plain clothes officers are patrolling town centre streets to catch thieves and drug takers.

Sgt Vincent Logue said: “This operation will target people who are known to us with a view to disrupting any criminal activity they have planned.”

The campaign started last Friday and the team’s first success came when a woman was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting from Boots in The Brittox.

Amy Ollerhead, of Waiblingen Way, Devizes, has been charged with theft.