TWO men have been caught trying to break into a former drugs den that had been shut down.

The pair were arrested as they tried to get in through the window of the ground floor flat in Emlyn Square.

As reported in the Adver at the time the crack house was closed in February.

It was boarded up and the tenant was moved elsewhere in a bid to clean up the area.

The two men arrested on Wednesday were also spoken to in connection with three car break-ins.

PC Matt Barnett, community beat manager for Broad Green, said: "We were called by a member of the public to a report of two men trying to break into an old crack house in Emlyn Square.

"It had been refurbished by the council and done up after the state it had been left in.

"We had three vehicle break-ins from the previous night which we were able to link to one of the offenders and they have been released on bail."

The flat has been a regular haunt of drug addicts.

It was closed in February after repeated complaints from residents.

And in February 2006 the Advertiser joined officers as they uncovered a collection of weapons, including knives and martial arts equipment, at the Railway Village flat.

The police said the tenant had allowed his flat to be used by others for taking drugs, blighting the lives of those nearby.

The Railway Village has 382 properties, of which 327 are owned by the council.

Of these, 83, or a quarter, are bedsit flats which are allocated to single people in housing need.

There are also 17 one-bedroom flats. Sylvia Darragh, the council's head of landlord services, said a new selective letting policy is reducing the number of people with drug and other problems moving into the bedsit-riddled area.

"The neighbourhood housing officer has obviously been able to talk to potential tenants so we can ensure there's a commitment and they will fit into the community," she said. "That's been working well.

"Obviously it can mean that some properties may take a little longer to let, in order to get the right people in there, but the councillors have said that's what they want."

Earlier this month the police and the council closed a crack house in Oxford Street, just around the corner from the Emlyn Square property.

Swindon Magistrates' Court ordered the flat be boarded up for three months and the tenant, Katherine Palmer, evicted after hearing how she had opened her doors to drug-users and prostitutes.

Anyone who tries to get in the building for the next three months will be arrested.