A POLICE drugs crackdown on a housing estate led to hundreds of arrests, a court heard yesterday.

A lawyer claimed that there were up to 700 cases awaiting trial and sentence from undercover operations on the Grove Hill area of Middlesbrough.

The court heard that among those arrested was Andrew Ward.

He said he was offered free crack cocaine to deliver heroin to a phone customer who turned out to be a police undercover drugs purchase officer.

The officer had phoned a mobile number wanting heroin and was directed to a pick-up point at Belle Vue shops in Marton Road, Middlesbrough.

He was approached by Ward, 32, who showed him a wrap of heroin, but the officer asked for more, said Tim Captsick, prosecuting.

Ward took him to his home and sold him drugs for £100, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Police raided the house later the same day with a search warrant and recovered £845 and a set of scales.

The police's £100, which had been recorded, was among the cash seized.

Ward claimed the rest of the money was left from £1,000 that a cousin paid him for a car, said Jonnie Walker, defending. He will contest a court application to confiscate it.

Mr Walker said Ward, a crack addict for years, had been asked to deliver the heroin as a favour.

He said: "The Grove Hill area was over-run for months by test purchase officers, but Ward was a one-off. Otherwise, he would have been involved in one of the 600 to 700 cases that are awaiting trial and sentence."

Ward, of Regent Road, Middlesbrough, was jailed for two years after he pleaded guilty to supplying heroin on March 17.