A SUSPECTED drug dealer was marched from their property by police as part of an on-going crackdown on crime across the district.

Police broke down the door of the suspect at their flat, above the parade of shops in Loughton Way, Buckhurst Hill, armed with a search warrant.

Inside they found cannabis and a woman in her mid-20s was arrested on suspicion of intent to supply class B drugs. She remains in police custody.

Sergeant Paul Christian, who led the raid, said: “These operations are running as one of our priorities as told to us by our Neighbourhood Action Panels.

“There's been ongoing intelligence on this flat for a couple of months gathered from numerous sources in the area: both police sources and local residents.

“This was a successful operation and shows we are taking a zero tolerance approach to this issue.”

As well as the drug raid, police carried out a simultaneous operation involving 15 PCSOs and six PCs who patrolled Loughton Way to deter anti-social behaviour.

Twenty youths were stopped and searched.

Police in the Epping Forest District have been targeting suspected drug dealers. Today's operation follows previous raids on the Debden estate in Loughton and the Ninefields estate in Waltham Abbey.

Sgt Christian said there would be more in the future, adding: “We are constantly looking at intelligence which is assessed on a regular basis.”