SIX people were arrested in the final crackdown under the police’s Operation Juggernaut.

Officers flocked to Bicester and Banbury over the weekend as part of the month-long campaign against violence and drug related crime.

The operation has seen 45 people arrested for offences including supply of drugs, theft, handling stolen goods and going equipped to steal.

Another 21 people have been cautioned.

The Operation Juggernaut team put up metal detecting knife arches — similar to those found at airports — at nightspots in the two towns.

Sniffer dogs were also led through bars in a bid to find drug users.

Police said about 1,000 people were screened through the safety arches, which were deployed in three pubs in Bicester — The Penny Black and Yates Wine bar in Sheep Street and G’s club in Market Square — on Friday and at The Sound Exchange, in High Street, Banbury, on Saturday.

Six people — one in Bicester and five in Banbury — were arrested for possession of drugs including cocaine and cannabis.

A chef who inadvertedly took his cooking knives out with him also had the blades confiscated by police.

Sgt Greg Auger said they were the only weapons seized during the weekend’s operation.

Mr Auger said: “The object of the operation was to maintain or increase the reduction in crime, and we have done very well.

“The community would have seen a high police presence in addition to the town centre patrols regularly out there.

“At the end of the day this makes the public feel safer.”

Insp Neville Clayton, of Banbury Police, said: “Operation Juggernaut is a key tool in our battle to keep crime in Banbury and Bicester low.

“It allows us to target the issues people want us to focus on.”

bicester@oxfordmail.co.uk