A haul of weapons was seized as police swooped on the homes of suspected drug dealers.

They included knives, a machete, a Samurai sword, meat cleavers, an axe, a catapult and martial arts weapons - all thought to be used to arm dealers.

Heroin, cannabis and stolen property were also recovered as officers carried out raids on nine homes in Hove and Southwick.

Four men, all in their twenties, were arrested in an operation aimed at smashing pre-Christmas dealing and disrupting

burglars who trade stolen goods for drugs.

Operation Sonic was the climax of weeks of intelligence gathering and surveillance on prime suspects.

Det Insp Russ Whitfield, leading the operation, said Sonic and similar initiatives in the Hove-Shoreham area had doubled the number of crimes detected in the last three months.

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