FOUR people have arrested as part of a clamp down on the illegal drugs trade.

The arrests were made after early morning raids in the Sedgefield police area, in County Durham, on Friday morning.

Police executed search warrants on two properties in Ferryhill and Spennymoor, and drugs and counterfeiting equipment were recovered.

At one address, police, working in conjunction with trading standards officers, seized copying equipment with a large number of counterfeit compact discs, satellite cards, and videotapes.

The raids were part of Operation Catchfly, which is designed to make major inroads into the local drugs trade.

A 28-year-old woman was arrested in connection with drugs offences. Another woman and two men, in their early 30s, were arrested in relation to counterfeiting offences.

All four were interviewed by police and released on bail pending further inquiries.

Richard Armstrong, from the Federation Against Copyright Theft, was drafted in to accompany the police during their raids, to examine the equipment seized.

The national organisation gives expert advice to police, Customs or trading standards departments to help to identify counterfeiting equipment.

Mr Armstrong said: "Counterfeiting is very much a flourishing trade. It is very much an ongoing problem we are trying to address throughout the country.

"We find the majority of trade is carried out through the Internet, so markets are global."