MORE than half a million pounds of drugs, cash and stolen goods have been seized from suspected criminals since the launch of a high-profile police operation to tackle street level dealing.

Officers have seized £11,970 of class A drugs, £451,570 of class B drugs, £30,000 of class C drugs and £43,000 in cash after raiding dozens of homes across Bolton in their Bolton Residents Against Drugs campaign.

Class A drugs include the most harmful illegal substances, such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and LSD, while class B drugs include cannabis and amphetamines.

Class C drugs include ketamine, GHB and some tranquillisers.

Two stolen cars, worth a combined £100,000, have also been seized, along with engines from another four stolen cars.

Since BRAD was launched two months ago, police have executed 48 search warrants — mostly raids on people’s houses — and 59 people have been arrested.

Police have also carried out 761 drug tests since April 1, and 178 people tested positive for class A drugs.

Sgt Scott Brady, from the Bolton Neighbourhood Task Force, said: “The idea is that if we target drug dealers it’s going to make our streets safer, because there’s a clear link between drugs and Crime.

“Dealers have got to market the fact they’re selling drugs, but sooner or later they’re going to try to market it to the wrong person, or someone is going to hear about it and call Crimestoppers or us. It’s only a matter of time before we turn up.”

Police also work with other agencies to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs, carry out prevention work and encourage users to change their lifestyle.

Police launched BRAD in July with a series of 14 high profile raids across Bolton in which 17 people were arrested, and almost £10,000 of drugs and stolen goods were seized.

Chiefs pledged to raid suspected drug dealers’ homes at the rate of one every day as the operation continues indefinitely.

So far, police have almost met that target — with 48 raids in 56 days.

Anyone with information about drug dealing can call police on 0161 8725050 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.