Police have vowed to continue their fight against drugs in a County Durham town following a high profile raid at the weekend.

Five men were arrested during the raid on Hogan's public house in Bishop Auckland on Friday night.

About 80 police officers, most of them in riot gear, swooped on the town's Newgate Street and closed off a substantial section of the town centre for several hours.

There were around 60 drinkers in the pub, part of the town's Friday night drinking circuit, who were detained for more than an hour while a search took place.

Officers seized a total of 56 tablets, three wraps of powder and a quantity of cannabis. They have been sent to the forensic science service at Wetherby for analysis.

The five arrested men, aged between 20 and 40, were all from the Bishop Auckland area. They have been granted police bail, pending analysis of the seized substances.

The raid was the culmination of an operation, codenamed Italic, which had been five months in the planning.

Its aim was to identify and target individuals suspected of being involved in the supply and distribution of drugs, in particular amphetamines, cocaine and cannabis.

Although the quantities recovered in the raid may appear small for the time and effort put into the operation, police say Italic achieved its intended objectives.

And they promised to continue to crack down on anyone suspected of dealing in drugs.

Detective Inspector Ted Edgar of Bishop Auckland CID said: "This is a result of our continuing commitment to seek to arrest the supply of controlled drugs in the Bishop Auckland area."

Chief Inspector Dave Pickard, operations manager for the Wear and Tees division, added: "We think this operation will send out a timely reminder to local licensees that we will take a strong line with any premises where drug dealing is taking place."

The weekend raid follows an incident on the town's Woodhouse Close estate last week when two children had to be tested for HIV and hepatitis B after being scratched by needles discarded by drug users.

The incident prompted tenants to threaten a rent strike unless action is taken to rid the estate of drugs.