POLICE swooped on six addresses in Ipswich today in their quest to rid the streets of class A drugs.Officers conducted morning raids in the west of the town finding a quantity of what is believed to be crack cocaine as well as some cannabis.

POLICE swooped on six addresses in Ipswich today in their quest to rid the streets of class A drugs.

Officers conducted morning raids in the west of the town finding a quantity of what is believed to be crack cocaine as well as some cannabis.

Twenty-six officers were involved in executing warrants under Operation Southern Comfort, a drugs operation based largely on community intelligence.

By 9.30am, they had raided three addresses and made four arrests.

Detective Inspector Dave Cutler, leading the operation, said: “The success makes the operation worthwhile.

“The warrants were granted based on various intelligence, mainly from the community.

“We have people phoning to say there are lots of callers at an address and that they only stay a short time and there are people knocking on doors at all hours of the night. We develop that to see who is associated with the address and see what their background is.

“When we have enough intelligence we can apply for a warrant.”

Officers were divided into three teams of seven or eight officers and backed up by the dogs unit, community officers and transport.

They rammed through doors and handcuffed occupants before conducting lengthy searches of the premises.

Early success came in Sirdar Road where police found 20 wraps, about 400 to 500lbs of what is believed to be crack cocaine.

They made four arrests at the address, taking one woman and three men into custody.

At Wilberforce Street a quantity of what is thought to be cannabis was found with the assistance of a police dog.

Officers also discovered a knife under a sofa.

Sergeant Mark Lusher, who led the team in Wilberforce Street, said drugs were a bigger problem in the west of Ipswich than the east.

He said he was pleased with how the raid had gone, that access had not been a problem and the operation had run smoothly.

Community police officers and police community support officers were deployed to each address to gain information from those living in the area.

Police hope intelligence gathered will allow them to apply for crack house closure orders.

Two properties in Downside Close, one in Sheldrake Drive and one in Birkfield Drive were also searched.

Have you affected by drugs? Write to: Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail: eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.