ORGANISED criminal gangs are seeking to strengthen their grip on the region by increasing trafficking of crack cocaine.

Police say drug dealers from out of the area can set up "crack" houses within a matter of hours and that the threat of the North-East becoming a target for gangs remains a "serious concern."

Middlesbrough police have raided several crack houses recently and arrested 18 people from outside the area as part of their successful Dealer a Day campaign.

Detective Constable Chris Boal, of Middlesbrough police's drugs unit, said: "We have seen in the last six months that people are specifically coming here to sell crack cocaine.

"We suspect it's organised crime behind it. It's vital that we do everything we can to stop it."

Figures show the Cleveland Police force seized 76g of crack cocaine in 2000, but the figure tripled last year, and in the first eight months of this year, officers seized 183g.

Fiona Young, regional manager with the Drug Prevention Advisory Service, said: "It is a very, very serious concern.

"Crack use is beginning to emerge in the region, particularly in Teesside, and the drug action teams and police are aware of that.

"What we are trying to stop is the crack markets becoming established."

Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug and crack, sold in small "rocks", is processed from cocaine hydrochloride for smoking.

Drug action teams have heard of "party bags" being sold for as little as £5, containing a small rock, to build up a market.

The menace does not limit itself to urban areas. At 50 cases this year crack cocaine seizures in North Yorkshire are up by 50 per cent on last year.

Detective Inspector Ian Wills, of the North Yorkshire Police drugs squad, said: "While the numbers remain low, the overall trend is quite worrying and like heroin, it has the potential to become a problem in the county."

In Durham, police seized 10.62g of crack in 2000/2001 compared with 18.95g this year.

Officers said crack cocaine was "creeping northwards".

Detective Chief Inspector Denny Pygall, head of organised crime at Durham Police, said: "Heroin continues to be much more of a problem than crack cocaine."

But Northumbria Police, which covers Newcastle, said seizures in crack cocaine had more than halved, down from 4.43g in 2000/2001 to 1.79g this year.

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Jones, head of force intelligence, said: "It is a real potential threat coming over the horizon, but much as there are not specific indicators regarding significant local increases, the fact that it has gone up elsewhere means we have to take the threat of it happening here seriously."

North-East Customs spokesman Rob Hastings-Trew said drugs barons tended to import cocaine, usually from Colombia or the Caribbean, and make it into crack once it was in Britain.