An operation launched to find the culprit making repeated 999 hoax calls to Cambridgeshire police resulted in a 15 year-old boy from Wisbech being caught.

The demand hub at police headquarters was inundated last night (Tuesday) with hoax calls who handlers suspected to be children "messing around".

A police spokesman said: "After the 10th call, investigative work began to track down the callers to stop the lines from blocking up."

And so began 'find the hoaxer' with call handlers first using the force's computer systems to identify the phones being used for the calls.

"We then used the call data to pinpoint the location of the callers," said the spokesman.

"We tracked down a mobile phone number relating to a 15 year old boy and a payphone location in Wisbech."

The spokesman said officers were sent to the boy's home address "to be greeted by his mother who confirmed his identity.

"The boy was then given 'very' strong words of advice from our officers and his parents."

The spokesman added: "Hoax calling and mis-using our emergency contact lines will not be tolerated."

For more information on hoax calling, please visit www.cambs.police.uk/hoaxcalling