NINE people were searched for drugs on Friday night as part of a week-long crackdown on drugs in Ashbourne.
The News Telegraph was given exclusive access to Operation Ashton Gate, which culminated in officers visiting town centre pubs and other premises in a bid to identify anyone carrying controlled drugs.
Friday was the final stage of the operation, which had earlier resulted in the arrests of two men.
Intelligence officers had spent the week gathering information about the use of drugs in Ashbourne before Friday night’s operation, which was spear-headed by Matlock-based Sergeant Denis Murphy.
Beat officers were joined by Derbyshire Constabulary’s task force and police dog handler, PC Paul Brackpool who joined the operation from South Yorkshire Police with his passive drugs detection dog Duke.
Sergeant Murphy, said: “Ashbourne doesn’t have a strong profile for possession and use of controlled drugs and it is a safe place to live, work and visit.
“However, we need to react when intelligence suggests there may be issues.”
