BORDERS police have arrested a man in connection with a series of almost 20 housebreakings after a tip off from colleagues in England.

Officers from the region along with colleagues from East Lothian travelled to Bishop Auckland Police Station earlier this week to question the 31-year-old suspect.

He was subsequently charged with a string of incidents in the Scottish Borders as well as 16 other crimes across East Lothian.

Chief Inspector Andy McLean, Local Area Commander for the Scottish Borders said: "Thanks to our cross-border co-operation with colleagues at Bishop Auckland Police Station we were able to charge a male in connection with these offences.

"We will not tolerate criminal activity of any kind within the Scottish Borders and whenever those responsible commit a crime in our area we will use all the resources at our disposal to pursue them robustly, even if they leave the region.

"Our communities can be assured that we have excellent working relationships with officers across Police Scotland's divisions, as well as in forces across the country so that we can work together to bring offenders to justice."

Between September 2014 and January 2015, three housebreakings occurred at addresses in Hawick, while two other reports of thefts from vehicles were received from the Cockburnspath area.

.