Twelve people arrested after A66 crash that killed seven including two police officers

Twelve people have been arrested on suspicion of offences including being involved with organised crime as part of the investigation into events leading to a crash on the A66 that killed two police officers and five others.

Cleveland police confirmed that nine men and three women were detained by officers investigating the events that led up to PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough dying when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way on the A66 near Middlesbrough collided with their marked armed response vehicle. All five men who were in the second car, aged between 17 and 23, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said some of those arrested as part of the A66 investigation, whose ages range from 19 to 61, were suspected of various offences.

Four people were arrested on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group and four on suspicion of possessing a firearm, while four of the suspects were also accused of possessing class A and B drugs with intent to supply.

Police have said the five men killed in the crash may have had links to “serious and organised criminal activity”, adding that four of those killed in the car that hit the police vehicle had previous convictions.

The fatal crash sparked a wave of concern about a social media trend for posting videos of dangerous, high-speed driving, which the prime minister, Andy Burnham, on Monday called “truly reprehensible”.

Cleveland police said there was currently “no evidence that filming of the activities on Friday night and Saturday morning was for the purposes of TikTok”, but Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, wants assurances from the tech companies and from the online communications regulator Ofcom “that this content is being proactively sought and removed”.

At least one of those killed in Saturday’s crash had previously posted reckless driving footage online.

The Guardian on Monday found a video on YouTube seen 2.5m times showing a Honda being driven at breakneck speed through a council estate and then down a narrow country road. Google, which owns YouTube, terminated the account after being asked for comment.

The arrests have come as part of a “wide-scale investigation into the criminality which took place” in the hours leading up to the crash, which has involved the help of officers and staff from Durham, Northumbria and North Yorkshire police forces.

As part of the investigation a Volvo XC60, believed to be associated with the activities of the passengers of the Volkswagen Passat, had been identified and recovered, police said.

Assistant chief constable Wayne Fox said his force had engaged in “a fast-moving and complex investigation, with significant links to serious and organised criminal activity” and claimed the “events of that tragic night will have a lasting and profound impact on the Cleveland area and the communities we seek to protect”.

He said: “We have a duty to respond to, and thoroughly investigate, the serious criminal activity that resulted in this fatal incident, and to bring all those responsible to justice. Our robust response will continue in the weeks and months to come, as we continue to tackle those that seek to cause harm to our communities and tackle serious and organised crime.

“Officers and staff across Cleveland have shown incredible resilience in continuing their work in the face of tragedy. Two of their colleagues lost their lives while serving the people of Cleveland and, while the impact will be felt by our people for a long time to come, they have continued to act with the utmost professionalism.

“I am also extremely grateful for the support we have received, and continue to receive, from the public of Cleveland and our wider police family.”

Earlier on BBC Radio 5 Live, defence minister, Luke Pollard said he wanted to see social media companies “step up”.

“I think we all need to give the police time,” he said. “But there’s also things we can be doing in the meantime to make sure that the internet is a safer place for everyone, that doesn’t celebrate and load views and therefore financial incentives on people to generate such awful content.”

Earlier this month, five young men were killed in Ireland and four other people injured after the car the men were travelling in was driven the wrong way down the M50 motorway.

More than £500,000 has been raised for the families of the two officers who died, while floral tributes have also been left beside the A66 close to the site of Saturday’s crash.

One said: “Behind every uniform is a person with a life, family, friends and people whose lives they have touched along the way.”