POLICE seized drugs during a swoop on eight pubs in Sheerness town centre. The evening raids were part of Operation Academy, a multi-agency initiative aimed at cutting crime and disorder in the High Street area.

A Swale police spokeswoman said afterwards that the officers used specially trained dogs to seek out the drugs. She said that following deployment of the dogs, controlled substances were found on the floor of several pubs.

A number of pubs were also found to be operating without public entertainment licences and/or breaching fire safety regulations.

The swoop - to ensure that pubs were abiding by the licensing laws - was carried out in an operation also involving Kent Fire Brigade, Swale Borough Council's licensing officer, and officials from Trading Standards and environmental services.

All the agencies will be following up their findings over the next few weeks. Police Sgt Terry Newman, who co-ordinated the action, said: "The checks were successful and produced some good results.

"I am looking forward to working with our partner agencies to establish the most effective way forward for future initiatives."