Moment 'prison visitors in stolen car' lead officers on chase

This is the dramatic moment an alleged prison visitor in a suspected stolen car fled police and led them on a 70mph chase through residential streets. 

The black Audi A3 performed a sudden U-turn and sped away from HMP Forest Bank in Agecroft, Salford, on Wednesday morning. 

The driver surpassed 70mph on the suburban streets of Little Hulton before abandoning the vehicle and fleeing on foot. 

A suspect was later traced with the help of a camera mounted on a police helicopter hovering above. 

Officers, aided by a police dog, arrested the man in the grounds of a semi-detached house close to some bins. It is thought the stop was for drug detection. 

Traffic police armed with ANPR cameras, police sniffer dogs and even a police drone were used as part of the operation outside four Greater Manchester prisons on Wednesday.

The prisons were Strangeways in Manchester city centre, HMP Forest Bank in Salford, HMP Buckley Hall in Rochdale and HMP Hindley in Wigan.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) arrested a number of suspects in the latest phase of its operation to tackle crime behind bars, which has been running for the last six months but was only announced publicly this week.

Gangs are recruiting expert drone pilots to help smuggle huge quantities of drugs into prisons, where cocaine and spice can trade for five times the normal market value and generate huge profits for criminals, he said.

Drones carrying payloads weighing as much as seven kilos are transporting drugs, mobile phones, tobacco and even items which aren't prohibited inside prisons such as condiments and sauces into jails, Supt Buckthorpe said. 

Police also revealed children as young as 14 are being exploited to smuggle contraband into jails.

Assistant Chief Constable John Webster, of GMP, said families were using children to smuggle contraband into prisons. 

He said: 'Anybody who smuggles contraband - and we are talking drugs here - into prison is extraordinarily foolish and ill-advised.' He described it as 'diabolical' that children aged from 14 were subjected to such 'exploitation'.