DRUGS with a street value of about £300,000 were seized by police in a morning raid in a residential street yesterday.

Police confiscated 325 cannabis plants in the raid on the house in Darlington, arresting a Vietnamese man in his 20s who was living there.

The haul, which included 275 plants that had reached maturity and had a street value of £1,000 each, was described as significant by Inspector Paul Phillips, of Darlington police.

He said: “There were plants in every room – in the living room, dining room, and in all the bedrooms. It was a very organised operation.”

He said the raid had been carried out after a tip-off from a member of the public.

“We are very pleased that the community have told us about this – it gives a clear message to perpetrators are not welcome in this community.

“We are committed to working in tandem with residents to combat this sort of crime and we will act on any information which is passed to us.”

The raid was carried out at 8am on the mid-terraced house in Lawrence Street, in the Eastbourne area.

The raid was part of a Durham Police’s operation to cracks down on drug-dealing in the force area.

The operation, which has been running across County Durham since last year, has helped to take hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of drugs off the streets and has resulted in a number of prosecutions of drug dealers.

Recent successes include the conviction of 12 people in Seaham and seven people in Newton Aycliffe towards the end of last year.

Insp Phillips said he hoped the raid would act as a warning to other criminals, and said: “We would encourage anyone with information to come forward.”

Anyone with information about drugs offences is asked to call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111 or police on 0345-60-60-365.