Police make arrest in hunt for 'Soak' graffiti artist (From Oxford Mail)

Police make arrest in hunt for 'Soak' graffiti artist

11:10am Saturday 2nd October 2010 in News

POLICE have arrested a man in connection with hundreds of graffiti tags daubed across Oxford and last night warned more arrests could follow.

Officers have been trying to catch the vandal responsible for daubing the word ‘Soak’ across buildings, bus stops and bins for the past two months.

Last night, they admitted there were probably copy-cat taggers operating too, and revealed a new tag ‘Flie’ had appeared on the street.

They have renewed an appeal to the public for information.

A 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage on Thursday. He was later released on bail until December 1.

Pc Peter Ciechan, of the city centre neighbourhood policing team, said: “We believe more than one person is responsible for this and we’re still looking for others.

“Inquiries are ongoing and there might be further arrests in the future.

“We’re asking the public to be vigilant and let us know if they have any information.

“There is more than one tag that has appeared.

“Soak is the main tag but Flie has also gone up alongside it, which we think is someone else.”

Pc Ciechan said it was hard to say whether the problem had got worse last month. He said: “It is hard to know what’s new and what isn’t. The reports coming in seem to be a lot less.”

Anyone with information about Soak or Flie’s identities should call Pc Ciechan on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.