SHOP A PUSHER: Police seized a number of class A drugs from a house in Calne after a tip off from the Shop-a-Pusher hotline. Ecstasy tablets, cannabis and a quantity of yet to be classified class A drugs were found in the house in Newcroft Road last weekend.

Police spent two hours searching the house after a concerned member of the public gave them vital information.

PC David Hunt said the phone call gave them the information they needed to search the house.

"It was the missing piece in the jigsaw.

"I think the shop-a-pusher line is an excellent idea and I would encourage people to use it.

"Without that information we can't successfully fight the fight against drugs in our community," he said.

No arrests were made after the drugs were seized because the house was empty but police inquiries are ongoing.

The drugs have been sent off for examination to the Home Office laboratory.

The Shop-a-Pusher hotline was originally launched by the Gazette and Herald in conjunction with Wiltshire Constabulary in 2001 as a week-long initiative, but the confidential hotline attracted such a large volume of calls that the scheme was extended and eventually spanned more than a year, leading to a number of successful prosecutions.

In April this year the line was re-launched to continue under the support of Chief Constable Elizabeth Neville.

Liaising directly with the divisional intelligence unit, based at Melksham Police HQ, and the division's proactive crime fighting team, Shop-a-Pusher also has a new hotline number (01249) 449694.

PC Hunt said it was a valuable service because it allowed people to report information in confidence and anonymously.

Detective Sergeant Alan Strike of Wiltshire Police intelligence unit said the seizure in Calne was an illustration of the success of the Shop-a-Pusher line.

"Through the shop-a-pusher line the police are able to build a bigger picture of what is happening in the community.

"Every seizure of drugs is to be called a success and we welcome the support of people by the Shop-a-Pusher line," he said.

"The police encourage people to use the line because drugs affect everyone in the community.

"It affects all of us in one way or another.

"It affects everyone's quality of life," he said.

DS Strike explained that all information coming into the hotline is screened against specific criteria.

"Our first step is to check names and addresses given on the phone line for previous convictions," he said.

"We also try hard to weed out calls that may have a malicious angle ie those from people who are just trying to get people they have a grudge against, in trouble. We obviously work very hard to prevent this.

"If a caller should leave his or her number on the phone line, because they don't mind talking to us further, we would also ring them back to make sure we had all the relevant information they could provide us with."

Ideally, police would like callers to tell them who, what, where and when someone was pushing drugs.

DS Strike said: "Our proactive team has many different, very effective methods of gathering information to take drug dealers off our streets."