IN the early morning haze a team of plain clothes officers quietly drove into Bosham Close, in West Swindon, in a convoy of unmarked vehicles.

It was the first of a series of raids as part of Operation Magpie a county-wide crackdown on known drugs offenders and burglars.

An officer specially trained in methods of entry techniques led the way up steps to the first floor flat, at 7am, carrying a hand-held battering ram and a huge crowbar, while his colleagues assembled behind each with their own tasks to perform.

A well-practiced swing of his lead battering ram partially opened the door with a resounding crack.

But the door had been braced with a piece of wood.

Two more rapid swings and the door swung open and the rest of the team piled inside as quickly as possible to prevent the occupants swallowing or disposing of any drugs they might have.

Acting Det Sgt Pete Chamberlain was overseeing the operation.

He explained: "With every raid like this, it is impossible to know whether you are going to find anything but it does send out the message to the wider community that there is no hiding place for criminals.

"There is no telling how the people inside are going to react when you go in. It is important that we all know what we are doing when we go in. Luckily we have a experienced team of officers here in Swindon.

"It is not uncommon for people involved in the drugs world to block their door in some way.

Often it is not just the police they are concerned about. They are also protecting themselves against other criminals. Sometimes on raids like this, the occupants are often relieved to find that it is the police, believe it or not."

But not all of those involved in the raid were human. Shortly after the officers had entered, they unleashed one of their key weapons in the ongoing battle against drugs Tazz the springer spaniel.

Police dog handler Neil Sampson explained: "A dog like Tazz is invaluable in helping to locate drugs.

"They are trained to find a toy which has been impregnated with the scent of drugs. He is quite a loud dog and likes to bark a lot but if he does find anything he goes to an entirely new level.

"Tazz is able to find drugs in places where officers would not think to look. Once he managed to discover a cache which was hidden behind a skirting board.

"The dog is also trained to search for a wide range of narcotics and even firearms."

On the first raid officers were unable to locate any incriminating evidence and left the owners to fund the cost of their damaged door.

Search warrants had been obtained for each of the properties, with the consent of magistrates.

And as a result the house owners have to meet the cost of any damage by police.

The next raid was on two addresses in Penhill which were close to each other. On this occasion, the police were looking for stolen goods and were not entitled to conduct such a through search.

As the officers approached one of the houses, they were spotted by the owner, who wisely allowed them in.

Officers checked a variety of goods in the house, reading off their serial numbers to a colleagues in the police control room who checked them against records of stolen property.

In both cases, officers drew a blank.

One of the detectives on the raid, former Army physical training instructor Mark Wilkinson said: "Even though we don't always find anything, raids like this still serve a useful purpose. They mean that people we suspect of being involved in illegal activity find it increasingly difficult to operate and it lets others know that we are pro-actively targeting them."

Elsewhere in the town, police teams struck lucky.

At an address in Welcombe Avenue, two people were arrested on suspicion of being in possession of a class A drug.

And as a result of another raid at a house in Penhill, another person was arrested after £650-worth of electrical equipment was seized which police suspect could have been stolen.