TRADING officials claimed to have struck a blow against illegal pedlars by nabbing the supposed ringleader on Saturday - only for him to return 24 hours later.

City council street trading enforcement officer Kevin Keating led police and county trading standards officers in an operation on Saturday targeting pedlars in Cornmarket Street, following complaints they have been illegally selling goods and cluttering up the area.

They cautioned 11 pedlars in the first sweep and thought they had scored a victory by catching 38-year-old Londoner Yosef Arvatz, who they named as the ringleader.

He was forced to pack up 11 stalls as Mr Keating said he was reporting him for prosecution for illegal trading, conspiring to trade illegally and aiding and abetting illegal trade.

Mr Keating told him not to return to Oxford, yet amazingly yesterday afternoon he had returned with the 11 stalls and was caught and reported again.

Last night Mr Keating said: "It was shocking to see him back.

"It's a bit cheeky and foolish when we only caught him yesterday but the pull of the money must be so much that he doesn't care."

Nine pedlars given stalls to work by Arvatz were cautioned on Saturday. Yesterday 13 different pedlars were given cautions. One of them had £2,000 in cash in a bag. Three of the 13 were arrested on suspicion of being illegal immigrants from Israel.

On Saturday Arvatz, who is from Edgware, would not comment.

Mr Keating said: "I'm satisfied that we've got the main guy. He's brought all the trolleys here and he has a seven and a half tonne van that he's brought down with all the stock in. We've seen him unloading and setting up stalls."

This operation follows on from one in September, when two people were arrested in connection with immigration irregularities and 11 others cautioned for illegal street trading.

Oxford City Council previously said it did not have the funding to pay for weekend enforcement, with Mr Keating its only enforcement worker.

Mr Keating said: "It's like any other set-up where you've got a Mr Big, who is making lots of money paying other people small amounts of money to trade for him.

"It's estimated that each trolley makes around £1,000 in a day and the people running them get paid next to nothing.

"We need to show these illegal traders that they are not welcome in Oxford and that they won't be tol- erated."

In a second operation later on Saturday, two Colombian men were also cautioned for illegal trading and the toys they were selling were confiscated.

Local legal traders welcomed the operation, but Liam Moore, owner of Bangles in the Covered Market, said he questioned why this second operation had not happened before now.

He said: "The last operation was in the summer but the problem never really went away.

"I'm glad the council has done this, but it should have happened sooner."

Robert Pouget, owner of the Oxford Cheese Company in the Covered Market, said: "Oxford is becoming awful for it and the stuff they are selling is all tat.

"It's taking away from the established traders in the High Street and the Covered Market."

Mr Keating has said there were plans for other crackdowns before Christmas.