Drug dealers are being hit hard thanks to funding for police operations.

Latest figures show Hastings police carried out 21 operations and executed 40 warrants in the area in the last nine months.

Through these alone, £21,500 worth of cannabis and nearly £9,500 worth of heroin or crack cocaine has been recovered and 47 people arrested.

About £100,000 in funding has come from the Communities Against Drugs group (CAD), which has helped provide police with better technology to carry out undercover and intelligence-led busts.

Chief Inspector Ken Taylor, district commander for Hastings, said the increase in detection involving drugs was down to good policing, not an increase in dealing.

He said: "We already receive excellent co-operation from the public and information local people have given us has led directly to seizures of heroin and crack cocaine.

"Drug dealers who move into an address not only put lives at risk and cause crime due to their victims need to support what is a very expensive addiction but are also a blight on the streets they live in.

"Residents living near such addresses witness an increase in anti-social behaviour and public disorder due to the type of people visiting the dealer.

"We intend to work with housing associations and private landlords to ensure that, whenever possible, those engaged in drug dealing are evicted.

"I fully intend to continue hounding them out of business."