Bogus Big Issue sellers who pester pedestrians will be among the first targets of a new team which aims to clean up the streets.

Shopkeepers in Hove have seen culprits buying a few copies of the magazine from legitimate sellers and trying to resell them and get extra cash through handouts.

Unwilling customers are sometimes verbally abused and pestered.

In November, managers of the Big Issue in Brighton painted 29 official pitches on the city's pavements to deter rogue vendors.

Now the unauthorised sellers will be targeted by Operation Dodger, an initiative to drive drunks, drug addicts and aggressive beggars from the streets.

Drug dealing, prostitutes' cards in phone kiosks and street drinking are also on the hit list.

Phase one will involve police and outreach workers from the Crime Reduction Initiative (CRI) street service team mounting joint patrols in Western Road, Palmeira Square, Church Road, George Street and Blatchington Road.

The aim is to refer people to relevant agencies, using the outreach worker or the CRI referral leaflet.

The team is also employed by the Government's Homelessness Directorate to reduce the number of rough sleepers.

The directorate is working with police to offer longer-term solutions by housing those involved in begging and other criminal activity and referring individuals to drug and alcohol treatment services.

Mike Pattinson, CRI's director of substance misuse and resettlement services, said those offered the assistance who continued to cause problems would encounter phase two of the operation.

This would involve high-visibility and plain-clothes police patrols on bikes and in cars.

Officers will target aggressive begging, drug use and drug dealing and will be instructed to arrest offenders.