Four men have been arrested during early morning raids by detectives investigating burglaries and thefts of vehicles in the Towns.

Officers from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate executed warrants at several addresses in Medway as part of a three month investigation into the crimes.

The men, a 26-year-old from Gillingham, a 20-year-old from Chatham, a 24-year-old from Chatham, and a 20-year-old, from the Swale area, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to steal vehicles between September 2011 and January this year.

All have been taken into custody where they are being questioned by detectives.

The arrests are the culmination of an investigation into the reported theft of dozens of high-value vehicles after houses were broken into across the Towns.

DI Eddie Fox, from the directorate, said: "A lot of the offences we have investigated took place while people were asleep in their own homes in the middle of the night which caused a great deal of distress to the victims and their families."