AN increase in the amount of drugs on Blackburn's streets has led to a sharp rise in the number of burglaries in the town, police have admitted.

Force bosses have now launched a dedicated undercover team to crack down on the escalating number of break-ins caused by addicts turning to crime to feed their habits.

But Father Jim McCartney of the Thomas House Project, which offers help and support to drug addicts, said more money and resources needed to be targeted on addicts to stop them re-offending.

Although arrests of known offenders have risen in recent months, police admit that they are facing an ever-increasing struggle.

In the last three months in Blackburn 153 burglars -- said by police to be prolific -- have been arrested and charged, a 25 per cent increase on the previous three months. In Accrington 85 burglars have been caught -- a rise of almost 80 per cent.

But despite the impressive figures, police said incidents are on the increase.

In December 2000 there were 89 burglaries in Blackburn. This figure rose to 102 in the same period for 2001.

However, in the week since the new team was launched there have only been eight burglaries reported in the Blackburn area.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Hartley blamed the increase on more drug-users on Blackburn's streets and an unexplained influx of drugs on to the streets.

He said: "There are more people out there committing crime and there also is a general increase in drugs dependency including crack cocaine and heroin, leading to more incidents."

DCI Hartley said police were tackling the root causes with operations, including Enforce and Hurricane, and working on long term projects like the Residents Against Drugs schemes (RAD)-- initially launched in Blackburn and set to extend to other parts of East Lancashire.

Father McCartney said it was difficult to say if the drug problem was getting worse but said there was a large number of addicts slipping through the net of support services.

He added: "If people aren't getting help they become excluded from society and often turn to crime. If they then go to prison and are released, still without support, they will start to re-offend again and that causes problems."

To crack down on burglaries Blackburn Police have launched the undercover 'Hit Squad' to actively pursue known criminals.

A team of seven police officers, led by a Detective Sergeant, will be concentrating all their efforts in seeking out those responsible for burglaries in the town and arresting them.

The scheme is the next phase of Operation Enforce -- launched before Christmas to crackdown on known burglars and car criminals. The operation enjoyed massive success with the arrest of 34 prolific criminals.

This new team has been introduced to specifically target those responsible for the majority of burglaries in Blackburn and will be using a number of tactics to secure convictions.

The police are appealing for anyone with information to pass it on to them on a new 'Operation Enforce' hotline. Calls will be treated in confidence.

Police are using a number of tactics including disrupting known offenders, increasing the number of high visibility patrols in 'hotspot' areas and executing search warrants at individual addresses.

The team has already made its presence felt in the criminal world by executing a warrant at an address in the Infirmary area of Blackburn and recovering more than £1,000 of stolen property.

Police are now appealing to the public for help in identifying the property.

The Operation Enforce hotline number is 01254 353534.