OVER 50 police officers carried out a series of early-morning drugs raids in Andover last Thursday as part of their biggest operation to date.

Seven warrants were executed simultaneously on addresses around Andover, and as a result of intelligence gathered during the raids, a further warrant was executed at a house in Artists Way later in the morning.

Quantities of both suspected Class A drugs and cannabis were seized, and more than 100 items including drugs paraphernalia and mobile phones were taken away.

Six people were arrested on varying charges of possessing Class A drugs, being concerned with the supply of Class A and C drugs and possession and cultivation of cannabis, as well as non-payment of fines.

Two people were also cautioned for possession of a small amount of cannabis.

During the operation, Insp Ian Whyton said: "We never used to see crack cocaine in Andover but now it's becoming very common and the reason behind that is we are getting dealers coming into the area as they are being pushed out of the cities.

"We recently carried out a successful operation where two men from the London area were arrested with a substantial quantity of heroin on them.

"The intelligence from them has led us to these addresses today, and the information gained here will be put into the network and reviewed so we can act on it again if we need to."

He added: "We are going to stay on the front foot with these people because although this is not a big problem by any means, if we do not address it now it will be a big problem.

"The message we want to send out to these people is that we are not going to tolerate their presence in the Andover area.

"As well as disrupting the drug supply network, this is also about public reassurance. We need the public to help us out as we can't do it on our own - and we want to show them we are taking positive action."