CAMERA equipment that automatically scans registration plates and "flags" suspicious vehicles is responsible for the second largest seizure of heroin in North Yorkshire, it has emerged.

An intercept unit of officers operating the Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (ANPR) on the A64 recovered £50,000 worth of the drug in February after stopping a passing vehicle.

Now North Yorkshire Police want to invest £567,000 in the equipment to target drug suppliers, prolific offenders and travelling criminals.

Chief Constable Della Cannings will ask members of the county's police authority to back plans to invest in up to 21 new staff, extra unmarked and liveried vehicles and the equipment itself.

This will allow the force, which is one of 23 to join phase two of the Home Office's Project Laser, to further pilot the use of the ANPR at roadsides across the county.

Police bosses have revealed 13 people were arrested in the first three weeks of its use in North Yorkshire alone, while across the country more than £100,000 worth of drugs have been seized, 300 stolen vehicles recovered and £715,000 worth of stolen goods found.

Officers are now actively investigating linking ANPR to York's CCTV system by April next year, with a dedicated team set up to respond to intelligence, but police have yet to identify exact needs and costs.

Police chiefs also plan to install the system in existing police cars and to use it to support policing around Menwith Hill.

If the county authority agrees to buy the equipment, its use will be phased in over the next ten months, with work already under way to extend it further.

The system works by placing high-tech cameras at the roadside or on bridges which can automatically scan the registrations of up to 3,000 passing vehicles an hour.

These are cross-referenced against a police database, and DVLA records with suspicious vehicles brought to the attention of an interception team of police cars further down the road.

Updated: 10:54 Thursday, June 26, 2003