The British Transport Police says its priority is to take "high harm, high impact offenders off the street"

Nearly two-thirds of suspects linked to robberies on Britain's rail networks are children, figures from the British Transport Police (BTP) show.

The data, published on Wednesday, shows that of the 1,680 reported robberies in the year to March, 848 were linked to named suspects, of whom 61% were aged under 18.

It also reveals that a small number of offenders were linked to many crimes, with the most common age of robbery victims and suspects being 16.

The BBC joined officers on overnight raids to detain four suspects aged 16-17 believed to be responsible for a combined 39 robberies. Police say the four all knew each other.

During the raids in London and Essex, police seized large blades from two of the suspects.

Robbery is a more serious offence than theft as it involves the use or threat of violence - with or without a weapon.

The BTP data covers incidents reported on the rail network in England, Wales and Scotland, and shows that almost a third of victims - 495 out of 1,547 - were also children. Of these, the most common age for child victims was 16. The youngest recorded victim was aged 10.

The BTP says the most commonly stolen items were mobile phones and watches. Sometimes expensive clothes were taken.

Some suspects were implicated in multiple robberies, with one child linked to 19 separate offences.

A suspect is "linked" to an offence on the police national database when they are identified by investigators as potentially being involved.

The BTP says the railway network is covered by lots of CCTV, which helps them track down suspected robbers.


More than 60 officers were deployed as part of Operation Flycatcher, led by Ch Insp Nick Brandon (pictured)

During Operation Flycatcher, the BBC witnessed officers execute search warrants on four addresses to detain some of these suspects.

The first raid took place at 02:46 in east London, where a 17-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of nine robbery offences. The team recovered a large samurai sword during a search of the property. At the same time, other teams raided two addresses in Essex. Another large blade was seized, and two teenagers were taken into custody.

We then travelled to the border between London and Essex, where at 04:00 officers had to breach the front door to take another youth away in handcuffs. Later, two other under-18s were arrested, suspected of a further 22 robberies. All have been bailed pending further enquiries.

Ch Insp Nick Brandon, who led the raids, told the BBC: "The message is quite simple: we will put the resources behind this, we will investigate this, we will identify you, we will come and arrest you, we'll search your home for all possible evidence and then we will seek to put you before the courts." He said it was "extremely distressing" for someone to be subjected to a robbery, "especially if they've been threatened by a weapon". But Ch Insp Brannon added that the number of robberies on Britain's railways equated to less an one per million journeys.