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Police have blitzed areas of the state this morning as part of a targeted campaign named Operation Northern Lockdown.
Twenty-three checkpoints were set up across the North from 1am to disrupt crime, namely business burglaries, which police say is happening in rural areas.
The show of force saw nearly 65 extra police, mainly Northern detectives, rostered on during the graveyard shift.
Northern Lockdown , which has been weeks in the planning, was aimed at catching offenders operating at a time when they believed rural police had knocked off for the night.
Traffic policing was also a focus of the operation.
Just after 3am a white Holden station wagon failed to stop at an attempted intercept by police on the East Tamar Highway.
Road spikes were deployed twice before the offender was brought to a halt in Waratah Street Rocherlea.
Police allege a few thousands dollars in cash and a substance believed to be ice and an ice pipe were found in the vehicle. The man was charged with a number of offences and is expected to appear in Launceston Magistrates Court this morning.
North East Inspector Darren Hopkins who initiated the interception said this was exactly the type of alleged offender the operation was targeting.
The checkpoints set up by police stretched as far south as Oatlands up to Scottsdale and from the Fingal Valley in the east to Sassafras in the west.
Overseeing the operation was Northern CIB Detective Inspector John King who said the act of locking down an entire police district was “quite unusual”.
“The aim is to patrol areas we are not usually in at this time of night and be unpredictable for the criminal elements,” he said
“The operation tonight is focussing heavily on the those rural interconnecting roads with a view to interrupting those (business burglaries).”
Business break-ins have increased by about 60 per cent since July. Police say that anecdotally the shift in crime is being fuelled by drugs.
This morning's operation saw hundreds of cars stopped and searched and motorists tested for drug and drink-driving.
Detective Inspector King said the public could expect to see more of these types of operations in the future.
pbillings@examiner.com.au