EIGHT members of a teenaged gang who have been terrorising young victims on the streets of Salisbury, robbing them of bus fare money and mobile phones, have been arrested by police in a series of early morning raids on their homes.

Some of their young victims have been robbed several times and one schoolboy had been a victim of the gang on 30 occasions.

The activities of the youths, aged from 12 to 16, forced many of their victims to try to find different ways of going to and from school.

Police say they know the gang is responsible for more than 50 theft-related incidents and they believe the total to be much higher.

Det Insp Chris Drake said many parents were unaware that their children had been victims of the gang because of their reluctance to talk about it.

He said: "In some cases weapons were used, in others force was threatened.

"We are liaising with schools in the city because that is where this may have started, with bullying at school that spread on to the streets of Salisbury.

"We are treating this seriously because of the terror suffered by many of the victims.

"We know there are other victims but up to now they have been afraid to talk to their parents or to us about what happened.

"We want them to come forward now."