WAR has been declared on drug dealers - and an anti-narcotics operation and pioneering rehabilitation scheme are the twin weapons Warrington police will use .

Detectives behind the Drugbusters initiative have achieved some notable successes, with jail terms totalling nearly 30 years handed out to dealers.

A crackdown in Bewsey temporarily smashed the drugs trade, at the admission of users themselves.

Police chiefs put the coup down to intensive intelligence-gathering and co-ordinated swoops on suspects.

Det Ch Insp John Hart said: "Because of feedback from drug users, we know that we totally disrupted the drugs market in that area for a while."

And work to steer addicts away from a life of substance misuse and crime also appears to be bearing fruit.

Offenders have been offered the chance of enrolling on the tough "PASCO" regime - a direct alternative to prison where drug users submit to blood and urine tests to prove they are free of illegal drugs in order to receive help.

Nine months into the initiative, so far 26 out of 28 enlisted have proved capable of meeting the strict criteria - but two have failed and been returned to court where they have been sent to custody.

The project, run with Cheshire Probation Service, aims to break the cycle whereby addicts continue to commit crimes to feed their drugs habit.

Police are consulted, after a defendant pleads guilty in court, to see if they think the individual would benefit as part of a probation order.

DCI Hart added: "It's early days and there is still a long way to go but it is looking very promising."

Supt Kevin Mayhew, divisional commander of Warrington Police, said: "People who are on the scheme will commit crimes, will burgle houses, will steal cars and will shoplift.

"So if we can get 26 people off drugs then that is a lot of crime that has been prevented."

Police believe the project is the first to offer the right level of motivation for addicts to escape their addictions.

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