Cleveland Police have confirmed seven more men have been arrested as part of an operation to disrupt organised crime in the wake of the A66 crash.
The total number of arrests in connection to the crash which killed seven people, including two police officers, has now risen to 24.
The latest arrests include four men – aged 35, 25, 40, 21 – who are in custody being questioned on suspicion of criminal damage with intent to endanger life, arson and possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
The arson relates to a caravan that was set alight on Atlee Road in Middlesbrough at 5.30am on Wednesday while the criminal damage with intent to endanger life relates to a suspected ramming of a garden wall in Steele Crescent in Middlesbrough on the early hours of Sunday morning.
All four men were in a vehicle stopped by police on Kingsley Road in Grangetown at 10.30pm on Thursday 27 August. Class A drugs and a Mercedes car were seized.
The three other men arrested are a 23-year-old man held on suspicion of threats to kill, a 42-year-old man detained on suspicion of threats to kill and possession of criminal property and a 30-year-old man arrested on suspicion of possession of criminal property, the force added.
All three have been released on conditional bail.
Officers also seized £15,000 in cash.
The additional arrests come after detectives confirmed they are not linking a house fire which killed a seven-year-old girl and her aunt to last weekend’s crash.
Assistant Chief Constable Dave Sutherland said: “Since the tragic incident last Saturday morning in which seven people, including two of our serving police officers, PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough, sadly lost their lives, officers and staff have remained working around the clock to continue to serve the public of Cleveland.
“In the same week, we have also seen a tragic house fire on Wednesday in which two people lost their lives, which is also understandably impacting the force and our local communities. At this time, we are not linking this incident to the fatal collision on the A66.
“Our thoughts remain with all those affected by these incidents as we continue our investigations into what happened.”
Hundreds of extra police officers have been drafted in to support officers after a series of recent incidents in the Middlesbrough and County Durham area – starting with the head-on crash that killed Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, and five young men.