A suspected drug dealer was arrested in Hastings as part of a massive operation.

Officers say a convoy of 83 police vehicles set off from a secret location in Kent on Wednesday to carry out raids on addresses in Sussex and Kent.

One man was arrested on charges relating to drug offences. The suspect is understood to come from the Kent area.

More than 270 officers were involved in the raids and 20 people were arrested as part of an operation to smash the supply of class A drugs in the South-East.

Superintendent Jan Stephens, based in the Swale district of Kent, said: "This was a strike aimed at disrupting a major drugs ring of street-level dealers who make several thousand pounds a week selling £20 balls of crack cocaine and £10 wraps of heroin.

"Dealers are usually addicts themselves who deal from home as well as on street corners.

"During our intelligence gathering we saw 70 users visiting one address in one day alone."

As part of the crackdown, police chiefs have set up contingency plans to deal with the "vacuum" of class A drugs created by the arrests.

Those arrested were being held in custody at Chatham and Sittingbourne.