Five more arrests in wrong-way crash investigation

Five more people have been arrested in an investigation into a wrong-way crash on the A66 in Middlesbrough which killed seven people, including two police officers.Cleveland Police said a 16-year-old boy and two men, 18 and 21, were arrested on suspicion of participating in an organised crime group. A 55-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and a 23-year-old man on suspicion of making threats to kill.All five remain in custody.Twelve arrests had already been made, bringing the total to 17.PC Tom Clough, 38, and PC Matthew Blades, 37, died in the crash, as did Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jacob Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, and 17-year-old Cole Robert Worthy.All seven were killed when a Volkswagen Passat, going the wrong way down the A66 at South Bank, hit a Cleveland Police armed response vehicle heading in the opposite direction at 03:39 BST on Saturday.The Independent Office for Police Conduct said officers had been pursuing the Passat for almost seven minutes after it was connected to earlier alleged criminal activity, but the pursuit was abandoned 10 seconds before the crash when it turned on to the dual carriageway.On Monday, the force said it received several reports of two vehicles "being driven dangerously" on Saturday morning.The first vehicle, believed to be a Volvo XC60, was seen "ramming properties" in the Middlesbrough area while the second vehicle, a Passat, is believed to have been associated with this activity.Both vehicles were operating with cloned number plates but were picked up by automated number plate recognition technology.Nine men and three women, aged between 19 and 61, were arrested across Teesside on Monday over suspicion of a range of offences, including possession of a firearm and being part of an organised crime group.Two men have since been charged as part of the investigation.