Arrests in animal extremism probe

Three people have been arrested as part of an ongoing police operation targeting animal rights extremists.

Hampshire Police said warrants were executed at properties in Hampshire and West Sussex on Friday morning.

A 24-year-old man and a woman, 26, were arrested at a house in Alver Road, Gosport. A woman, aged 50, was arrested in Thorncroft Road, Littlehampton.

Police said the two properties were currently being searched and the three people were being questioned.

The arrests were part of Operation Achilles, a police investigation into an alleged conspiracy targeting a variety of organisations and individuals, including Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire, according to the force.

In May, 30 properties across the UK as well as in Belgium and the Netherlands were raided.

Police said 16 people had been charged and six remained on bail following their actions last year.