POLICE have started the year with a message to drug dealers we will put you behind bars.

A string of raids and stop-and-searches in the centre of town in recent weeks has netted £20,000 of heroin and crack.

Half the drugs seized were found in one house in County Road.

Several arrests have been made but police say the crackdown will continue.

They are targeting the area stretching from the Railway Village to the County Ground, including Manchester Road.

It is hoped that tackling the drug problem will have a knock-on effect on the vice trade which has blighted parts of the centre around Broad Street.

Most of the prostitutes some of whom are as young as 16 are forced on to the streets to pay for their drug habits.

Police say the suspects arrested were filling the vacuum left by a crackdown last summer, which saw the town's biggest dealers sent to jail.

Spearheading the hunt are two town centre community beat bobbies PC Matt Barnett and PC Paul Best.

Three suspected Class A dealers were charged last week.

One from London was remanded in custody by magistrates pending a further hearing later this week.

Five suspects from the Manchester Road area were released on police bail until March.

One of these was arrested following a tip-off to the Swindon Drugs Hotline.

The whole operation has been led by information obtained from the community.

PC Barnett said: "People in the area know what is going on and they talk to us.

"I want to keep this going, and give the dealers no rest.

"But we need information from the public. We will target those people highlighted.

"If people see the way we are tackling dealers, it will make then feel safer and encourage them to come forward with more information."

The police found dealers had come to Swindon from as far away as Wolverhampton, the Midlands and London.

"You get better prices in smaller towns," said PC Barnett.

"Dealers don't like working on their doorsteps.

"Unfortunately, the M4 gives them good access to towns like Swindon, Slough and Reading."

But he had a stiff message for dealers.

"If you deal drugs in Swindon, we will catch you," he said.

"There are not many dealers we don't know about, and it's just a matter of time before they're caught."

Any drug-related activity should be reported to the hotline number above.

Police need descriptions of dealers, addresses, dealing hotspots, car number plates and any other suspicious activity.

Tamash Lal