Sussex Police say they have put a number of crack dens out of business in their biggest swoop to date on "cocaine commuters".

The force yesterday carried out Operation Disrupt to stem the flow of drugs, in particular crack cocaine, into Brighton and Hove from London.

Officers were out in strength patrolling known hot spots, knocking on doors, checking train passengers and pulling over cars.

Months of intelligence gathering went into planning the huge operation, which involved more than 100 officers.

By the end, 25 people had been arrested and drugs with a street value of almost £40,000 were seized.

Several suspected crack dens are effectively out of business.

The scale of the drug problem is well known to detectives but even they were horrified by some of the finds.

A terrifying cache of weapons was recovered from one house in Portslade with two young children inside.

The find included a decommissioned rifle, a pistol, a 3ft samurai sword, a diver's knife, a machete, a butcher's cleaver and two throwing knives.

Several large blocks of cannabis and up to £500 in cash were also recovered.

The cannabis had been hidden inside two books on a bookshelf.

One was a thriller by Stephen King, the other was Fifty Famous Stories for Boys.

Some of the pages had been hollowed out to conceal the drugs and, from the outside, the books looked normal among others on the shelf.

PC Ian King said: "All of the weapons were inside the house and on shelves within easy reach. The suspect told us that he had them for his own protection.

"It says something about the dangers of drugs if someone needs all of these weapons to protect himself when, at the same time, there are children in the house."

More than 100 uniformed and plain-clothes police officers swooped on railway stations at Brighton and Hove checking passengers as they stepped off trains arriving from the capital.

Members of the public were curious about the police officers posted around the station, unaware of the nature of their operation that had been kept top secret for weeks.

A kilo of cocaine worth £20,000 was recovered from one commuter who was stopped and searched.

Patrol cars lined the A23 pulling over any drivers who looked suspicious.

The cars were taken to a checking centre where sniffer dogs and specialist search teams scoured them for hidden drugs.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Buchan, who led the operation, said: "We have been spot-checking a lot of people all over the place."

In one car, police found a kilo of pure amphetamine, which, if it had been cut with other substances and sold on the street, would have netted the dealers £15,000.

Earlier, police blitzed several addresses across the city that were suspected crack houses and drug dens.

A suspected drug dealer lunged at police officers with a kitchen knife as they battered down the door of a bedsit in Montpelier Road, Brighton.

Officers blasted him with pepper spray and forced him to the ground.

Two other men in the bedsit were also showered with pepper spray and handcuffed.

Houses in Portland Road, Hove, and Buckingham Street, Brighton, were also targeted.

Mr Buchan said: "The aim is to cut the supply of drugs into Brighton and Hove, to disrupt the routing and to disrupt the local market as well as send a message that the supply of drugs into our area will not be tolerated.

"These raids were extremely successful and would have certainly had an impact on the local supply of drugs.

"Sussex Police are taking action to stop drugs coming into Sussex. The message is clear - Sussex is not safe for drug dealers. You will be caught and prosecuted."

In total, 19 officers executed three warrants on Tuesday at 6pm and 22 rocks of crack cocaine and cannabis with a street value of £1,000 were found. Cash and stolen cheques were also found.

Twelve men aged 21 to 36 were arrested for offences including possession with intent to supply, affray, obstruction and handling stolen goods.

PC King said: "Brighton and Hove is a safer place tonight."