STOLEN goods worth thousands of pounds were seized in a police raid in Cheltenham yesterday.

Half a dozen officers swooped on a property in Springbank as part of a carefully co-ordinated operation, recovering five laptops, a plasma screen TV and a top-of-the-range mountain bike.

It was part of a series of planned raids in Cheltenham as police respond to the number of burglaries hitting the town.

Officers yesterday surrounded the house before going inside to recover the items.

The suspect had left moments earlier, leaving the door open and his computer on. It is thought he might have realised police were about to strike.

Last night, officers were confident of apprehending the suspect, who could not be named.

Inspector Roddy Gosden, who was leading the strike, said: "This was a highly successful operation, building on the success of our recent drive to reduce the number of burglaries in the town.

"Although we did not arrest the suspect, we are confident it is just a matter of time until we do so. The amount of goods recovered was significant and traceable, so hopefully we can get it back to the rightful owners."

Neighbours watched from behind their curtains as officers surrounded the property, in Triscombe Way.

Douglas Johnson, 23, said: "I couldn't believe it. I was enjoying my day off when suddenly all these police were outside.

"I've never seen anything like it before around here.

"This is a quiet neighbourhood where you wouldn't have thought there were any links to crime."

Police carried out the raid at around 2.30pm. Later in the afternoon they arrived at another town property to arrest a man suspected of handling stolen goods.

The suspect was not at home but officers said the incident remained "active" last night.

They were acting on intelligence gleaned from a large-scale drive to stem the tide of burglaries across the town.

Dubbed Operation Spa, it has seen some of the town's most prolific burglars arrested as well as a 21 per cent reduction in burglaries compared to this time last year. Officers are combining timed strikes with CCTV surveillance operations and undercover patrols in crime hotspots to track town criminals.

And they said there would be more raids in the coming weeks.

Insp Gosden added: "This has all been part of a big push to reduce burglaries. Last month, we made 10 arrests, including some of the most prolific burglars in the area.

"We have shown we will be relentless in pursuing people suspected of committing crimes, apprehending them and bringing them before the courts.

"It doesn't matter how old you are. We will act on intelligence received from the public to make sure we put a stop to this sort of crime."

Anyone who has information related to criminal or suspected criminal activity is asked to contact police on 101. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.