Police reveal why planes have been circling Cardiff for two nights

The planes circling Cardiff over the past two nights were taking part in a police operation to quell “serious disorder and violence” in an area of ​​the city. The National Police Aircraft Service (NPAS) planes were seen in the skies over the city between 6pm and 10pm on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

The action was taken following recent incidents of “serious disorder and violence”, which included items such as stones being thrown at police vehicles. Now, South Wales Police has issued a Section 60 Notice giving officers the authority to stop and search anyone in Gabalfa, Cardiff, as part of the operation.

The Section 60 Notice came into force from 2pm on Friday 12 July and will remain in force until 7am tomorrow, Saturday 13 July. The notice authorises any uniformed police officer, within the area defined by the map, to exercise the powers under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. They are given the power to:

• Stop and search any pedestrian, or anything carried by them, for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments without good reason, or

• Stop and search any vehicle, its driver and any passengers, for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments.

Section 60 is intended to prevent serious violence, find dangerous instruments or apprehend people carrying weapons.

This is the area covered by the powers:

It is understood a plane was used because it can stay in the air for longer than a helicopter and while it was flying on both nights officers helped locate missing people. An NPAS spokesman said they had been asked by South Wales Police to help search for a missing person in the Cardiff area.

They added: “NPAS operates a fleet of four aircraft, to complement the national fleet of 19 helicopters. The helicopter covering the South Wales area is based at NPAS St Athan, while the aircraft fleet is based at NPAS East Midlands Airport but covers the whole of England and Wales.

“While both aircraft types have the same mission equipment on board and can achieve the same results, the aircraft are capable of remaining airborne for up to eight hours and are therefore regularly deployed on targeted patrols in specific regions, remaining airborne for extended periods to be deployed on service requests when required. This week, the aircraft have spent time supporting six force areas across the South West, Midlands and Wales.”

Anyone with information or concerns should contact South Wales Police on 2400229704. Live Chat herereport online here or call the police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. For the latest Cardiff news, sign up to our newsletter here