FIVE men have been arrested in connection with a conspiracy to sell drugs in the Southampton area.

Specialist police swooped on nine homes in the South today as part of a huge joint operation involving officers from across the region.

Crews wielding riot shields and body armour raided three addresses in the city and six others in London.

They included homes in Oakley Road and Nelson Road in the Shirley area of Southampton.

The operation was led by the Metropolitan Police in partnership with the Trident Gang Crime Command unit and Hampshire Constabulary.

It follows police recovering a quantity of Class A drugs and cash thought to be linked to the area.

Five men were arrested on conspiracy to supply class A Drugs.

They were two men aged 43 and 57 arrested at Oakley Road, a 26 year-old arrested at Nelson Road and a 25-year-old man arrested in Radnor Road, South East London.

Police arrested another 25-year-old man in a vehicle on the M3 near Fleet.

They are all currently in custody in South London Police Station.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “Detectives from Trident Gang Crime Command have arrested five individuals in connection with a conspiracy to supply Class A drugs in the Southampton area.”

At least twenty officers emerged from two police vans and three cars and used a battering ram to burst their way into the semi detached home in Oakley Road at 10am this morning.

Witnesses saw them dragging out two men and sniffer dogs entering the property.

The two-storey house had at least two of its windows already boarded up.

A workman on a building site opposite, Colin O'Connell, said: “We heard them get out of their vans and ram down the door.

“Thirty minutes later they pulled a person out. They sent in sniffer dogs and later forensic teams.”

Officers initially pulled up in an unmarked van before around 15 of them used a battering ram to knock the door in.

Luke Yeates working on a neighbouring building site said: "They were hitting the door and shouting "stay sat down".

"It took them a couple of attempts to break in and then a load of other police in uniforms arrived."

The worker said police searched the house for nearly 30 mins before two men were led out by officers.

Another workman, Tom Holmes, said: "I first noticed when I saw 20 officers kicking down the door. There was a lot of shouting and dogs barking.

"It's strange because I've not seen anyone come out of the house before so didn't think anyone lived there."

Meanwhile, residents in around Burgess Road in the Swaythling area of the city reported seeing Met Police vehicles parked at the Shell garage in Burgess Road as early as 8.30am this morning, while another witness has reported seeing Met Police officers on the M3 near Winchester.