Further arrests after footballer's home burgled

Five more people have been arrested in connection with a string of high-value burglaries, which included the home of Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak.

Cash, jewellery and designer clothes worth more than £1m were stolen from homes in Sunderland, Newcastle and Northumberland earlier in April.

The Swedish international's house was among those broken into, and four people have been charged with burglary.

Officers from the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU) said two men and three women had been arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

Isak's home in Darras Hall, Northumberland, was broken into on 4 April.

His car was stolen but later found abandoned three miles (4.8km) away in Dissington, according to police.

In March, money, clothes and jewellery worth £1m were taken from a house in Clayton Road, Jesmond, and jewellery worth £100,000 was stolen, along with designer clothes and cash, from a house in Woodlands Grove, Sunderland.

Three men aged 27, 31 and 33, and a 42-year-old woman were arrested on 12 April and charged with burglary.

On Thursday, officers arrested two men, aged 40 and 57, and three women aged 28, 32, and 63. They have since been released on bail.

NEROCU's investigation was supported by Northumbria Police and forces in Staffordshire and the West Midlands, along with Opal, a national intelligence unit focused on serious organised crime.

Det Insp Shaun Fordy said the operation demonstrated its dedication to "robustly pursue" those suspected of being involved in criminality.

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