Crack cocaine is taking hold in Worthing, with dealers taking the train from London each day to peddle the highly addictive drug.

Supply lines of "rock", as it is known, have not taken a grip on South Coast towns such as Littlehampton - but police say it may only be a matter of time.

Crack, which usually comes in the form of crystals which are smoked, is seen as the greatest menace of the drug world with its gang violence associations.

One senior police officer says the battle against crack has reached a critical phase.

Detective Inspector Paul Williams, of Worthing Police, said: "A crack cocaine market has slipped into Worthing over the last year.

"For many years, it was dealt and used predominantly in London.

"The drug had a lot of Yardie-related dealer-criminals originating from the West Indies. With that came a lot of violence, including firearms use and turf wars.

"Yardie-type dealers have not yet hit Worthing but towards the end of last year there were certainly more crack cocaine dealers in Worthing than ever before."

The police Highdown division - which covers Lancing, Worthing, Littlehampton and Arundel - is determined to stem the spread of the drug before it is too late.

Operation Charlie, whereby they arrested a number of suspected dealers, was the most recent battle in the war on crack.

Mr Williams said: "We have got to act now. We don't want crack cocaine in our town because of the violence it brings with it. We want to stop dealers establishing themselves here."

He said there had always been hard drugs in the town, such as heroin, whose users often committed crime to feed their habit.

Mr Williams said: "Heroin dealers are generally fairly placid. Crack cocaine is different."

Commenting on the division's latest crime figures, for April to December 2001, he said: "It is difficult to establish a cause and effect between specific crime and drug use.

"Although the amount of crime in general in Worthing has stayed pretty stable, shoplifting has gone up significantly on the same time last year. We know that people who get arrested for this are often heroin and crack cocaine users.

"Burglaries are down by 11 per cent but this sort of crime is more often associated with heroin users. "

He said violent crime was more difficult to quantify as it was often directed between gangs themselves.

"In the second half of last year we saw some quite significant incidents involving crack cocaine in other parts of Sussex. They involved the use of firearms, the taking of hostages and torture.

"This has been going in London for a while with people regularly being shot dead. But such violence is definitely getting more commonplace in Sussex.

"We may never be able to cure the problem but we can at least keep a lid on it."

He said the best way of stemming the tide of crack cocaine dealers on the Sussex Coast was through police enforcement tactics and education.