Four people have been arrested in a crackdown on car crime.

The suspects were detained in Hove as part of a high-profile initiative to tackle the theft of cars and property from them.

Following the arrests, police recovered property believed to have been stolen from vehicles in the Hove area.

All four suspects are still helping with inquiries and may face charges at a later date.

Senior police officers in Hove launched the crackdown as part of the continuing national Operation Hyena car crime initiative.

The move follows a recent increase in the number of car-related crimes, but police say the number of reported incidents has fallen compared with last year.

Extra resources will be committed to tackling the problem with both uniformed and plain-clothed officers boosting patrol car crews on the streets.

Inspector Allan Penfold of Hove police said: "We will have more officers on the streets addressing the car crime issues in Hove for the foreseeable future.

"We will use the intelligence resources we have available to target individuals and the areas and times at which they operate.

"These people should be aware that we will be putting extra officers on the streets at night and anyone seen acting suspiciously will be stopped.

"Overall, car crime is down in Hove this year, but recently there has been a blip in these figures which we want to address.

"Most of the car crimes involve people who steal a vehicle to get home after a night out or steal property from them to sell, possibly to buy drugs.

"We also sometimes get more expensive cars which may have been stolen to order either to be taken abroad or stripped for spares."