ELEVEN people, including six women, were arrested in a series of early morning drugs raids on Tuesday.

At 6am a team of 40 uniformed and plain clothed officers supported by specialist drugs dogs swooped simultaneously on five private and council owned houses in the Shildon and Newton Aycliffe areas.

The eleven, who were all arrested on suspicion of trafficking in heroin are in their 20s and 30s.

Drugs and money were recovered in the course of detailed searches of the properties raided.

Det Insp Stuart Robson, who led the operation codenamed Exodus from Newton Aycliffe police station, said it had been the culmination of months of intelligence gathering about drug dealing in Shildon and Newton Aycliffe.

He praised local people for their tolerance and understanding, saying: "It must have appeared at times that the police were doing little or nothing to tackle an obvious local problem. But the fact is it takes a considerable amount of time to gather evidence and bring an operation to a successful conclusion."

The inspector said he could not rule out the possibility of further arrests.