Drug dealers across Darlington have been targeted in a series of dawn raids. Reporter Deborah Johnson joined officers during a raid yesterday.

IT was just before 6am and not yet light. The streets of Darlington were deserted and there was an eerie silence.

Out of the darkness several convoys of vehicles emerged from Darlington police station compound, officers were about to shatter the morning tranquillity for suspected drugs dealers.

Within minutes, the doors of various targets were smashed in and officers swarmed into the homes, searching for heroin they believed to be on the premises.

The scene was repeated throughout the town, from the Yarm Road and Haughton areas to the Skerne Park estate.

As suspects were led from their houses, teams of sniffer dogs were brought in and the painstaking process of searching the homes began.

Community support officers distributed leaflets to residents in the surrounding streets informing people about the raids and encouraging them to come forward with information.

The raids, involving a team of 50 officers, came after months of intelligence gathering by officers as part of Operation Autumn, launched to root out dealers and suppliers of illegal drugs.

Over the past three days, officers arrested 15 suspects across Darlington and seized quantities of heroin and cannabis with a street value estimated at hundreds of pounds.

Warrants had been issued for the arrest of several more people, but despite the suspects not being at their homes on the morning of the raid, police are confident they will be caught, sooner or later.

Detective Inspector Shaun McElvaney, who co-ordinated the raids, was pleased with the outcome.

"The raids were as a result of a long period of intelligence gathering, a process that has gone on for months," he said. "There were other suspects whose properties we raided, but they weren't there at that time. But they will turn up."

Det Insp McElvaney said input by local community was vital in helping to break drug-dealing.

He said: "An important part of that intelligence comes from the community, and that is why our community officers were on the scene to give out leaflets.

"We want to show people living nearby that police are taking this positive enforcement action, and that we are dealing with individuals who are suspected to be involved with drugs.

"People may contact police with information they think may not be acted on, but we want to show that it is, and that we can encourage people to come forward with more information."

Anyone who wants to contact Durham Police can do so on 0845 60 60 365, or call Crimestoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.