Police from across the Hastings division joined forces in a blitz on criminals in a day of action code-named Operation Muster.

More than 80 officers and four dogs were involved in the swoop, which concentrated on bail fugitives, those wanted for burglary or violent crimes and

suspected drug dealers.

From 8am, teams of officers stormed homes throughout the area,

surprising suspected criminals and serving warrants on those who had failed to turn up to court hearings.

They were accompanied by British Gas and Seeboard agents in search of people using electricity or gas illegally. Despite finding several properties empty on arrival, by 9.30am the police had served 40 warrants, taken nine people into custody and bailed three others.

The operation continued until lunchtime yesterday, with officers in riot gear and with search warrants using "enforcers" to bash down doors in an effort to catch criminals red-handed.

At a house in Earl Street, Hastings, ten officers enlisted the help of sniffer dog Bruno to discover a "substantial" amount of cannabis and drug-taking paraphanalia.

A 34-year-old man was arrested for possession of the controlled substance with intent to supply and abstracting electricity.

Another person was arrested at a home in Trinity Villas for failing to appear in court on a charge of possession of cannabis and two people were arrested elsewhere on suspicion of actual bodily harm.

More arrests were expected to follow. Inspector Chris Wratten, in charge of the operation, said: "I am satisfied that it has been successful, though we had hoped for more arrests."

"We would like to think that people will realise if they don't turn up to court they cannot sleep peacefully in their beds because we will come round knocking on their doors."

Yesterday's swoop was the culmination of many weeks of intelligence gathering on the part of Sussex Police and liaison with the courts, the CPS, Seeboard and British Gas.

In the past week, 20 people were arrested as far away as Wales and Cumbria in a clampdown on Hastings bail absconders. More action days are planned to target burglary, violence and car crime.

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