POLICE and sniffer dogs swooped on a number of locations around an industrial estate and found cash and suspected Class A drugs.

Wiltshire Police worked alongside partner agencies including trading standards, the Environment Agency and HM Revenue and Customs to carry out searches at a number of sites near Swindon yesterday.

The UK Border Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency were also involved in the operation in Cricklade throughout the day.

Early morning searches were made on the Chelworth Park Industrial Estate in Chelworth Road, a private property and a farm, said a Wiltshire Police spokesman.

He said the raids were carried out as part of concerns raised within the Cricklade community and from information tips received by police.

The spokesman said no arrests had yet been made with further updates to come within the next few days.

“A large amount of cash and a quantity of what is believed to be class A drugs were seized as a result of the search and inquiries are continuing,” said the spokesman.

“Close collaborative working with partner agencies to arrange and carry out days of action like this one are an essential tool to help identify and disrupt possible on-going criminal activity.”

The agencies were in the Cricklade area for most of the day, with at least six marked police cars parked on the side of the road.

It is still not clear what the operation was targeting, but police are still not ruling out making arrests.

Last night a shopworker at the estate, who did not want to be named, said: “The operation seemed quite big with a lot of agencies involved. We don’t have any problems round here normally.”

If you have information about this operation or about illegal activity in your area, please call police on 0845 408 7000 or Crimestoppers, where information can be left anonymously, on 0800 555 111.