Drugs dealers are being chased out of Brighton and Hove, say police.

They have taken a tough stance on pushers who move in to the city to cash in on partying tourists who head to the coast in their thousands.

More than 200 have been arrested during a series of operations - 12 arrests for every month the operation has been running since December 2004 - and most have led to convictions.

Police said the crackdown, named Operation New York, has helped send the message that if dealers come to Brighton and Hove, they will not get away with selling drugs.

The Argus reported on Thursday how Ian Edwards, of Grand Parade, Brighton, was jailed for four years as a result of the operation.

Judge Anthony Scott Gall said Brighton and Hove was populated with parasite suppliers who preyed on others.

It was a public disgrace that ordinary people were forced to live alongside them.

Edwards and other members of his gang were arrested as part of the undercover initiative.

He admitted six charges of supplying heroin when he appeared for sentence at Hove Crown Court.

Officers believe most drugs gangs, often from London, no longer see Brighton and Hove as a viable proposition.

A spokesman said: "Historically what we have seen is when we make these arrests there is a general reduction of crime across the board for a few weeks but then these dealers get replaced by others from other parts of the country.

"People will come down from London thinking they can move in on the patch and get some business. But there is now a reluctance among those people because they have seen we are so hot on dealing at the moment and we are securing these sorts of convictions."

Police believe the city is getting rid of the "anything goes" culture which gave the perception that taking drugs in Brighton and Hove was largely permissible.

Once the drug trade was cracked, officers argue, much of its associated crime, such as burglary and theft, would also fade. The spokesman said: "There is this feeling that anything does go here, for example hen nights coming down and ending up sleeping in their own vomit on the seafront.

"But we are trying to encourage that perception to change so that drug dealers and all criminals, especially those from outside the area, will not see Brighton as a place where anything does go."

The police claim is borne out by the statistics.

The arrests under Operation New York have coincided with a 48 per cent drop in burglary, a 45 per cent drop in vehicle crime, 26 per cent less robbery and a 70 per cent drop in drugs-related calls to the police.

The conviction of Edwards, himself an addict and a member of drug dealing gang The Scousers, was hailed as "very significant" by Detective Chief Inspector Graham Bartlett.

The success of Operation New York has impressed the Government enough for it to provide extended funding for it until March 2007 and Mr Bartlett said he and his officers would continue to arrest pushers.