MYSTERY still surrounds a major police search operation that saw officers descend on a Southampton community for four days.

Armed officers, sniffer dogs and forensics teams swooped on a terraced property and spent four-days scouring the surrounding area.

Now the Daily Echo understands that the search was linked to Operation Fortress, a police campaign to stamp out drug related crime in Southampton.

As previously reported by the Daily Echo, armed officers burst through fences entering the house from all directions on Thursday afternoon.

Dozens of police descended on the area, searching the home, its bin shed and a wooded area behind it, which was cordoned off.

Search specialists, sniffer dogs and police divers remained at the site all weekend using generators and high powered lights to search through the night.

Police finally removed the cordons and left the scene, opposite Antelope Park, yesterday afternoon, taking with them bags full of evidence.

It is understood that the house, which is part of a development built two years ago opposite Antelope Park, is rented by a family with two sons in their teens or early 20s and three younger children.

Resident and mum-of-four Tanya Raquet, 34, previously said: “It makes me feel a bit uneasy just not knowing what’s going on, especially as there’s a lot of people around here who have children.”

Joe Ellis, 39, a council groundsman and dad-of-one, said: “I spoke to an investigating officer on Saturday and he said we have to put our trust in them, so that’s what we have to do. If there’s anything that we needed to know I’m sure they would have told us.”

A police spokesman previously told the Daily Echo: “Officers executed a search warrant at an address on Bursledon Road in Southampton on the afternoon of Thursday, November 20, as part of an investigation into stolen property. The search is still ongoing as it has been extended to include the immediate area around the property, including a wooded area adjoining it.

“No arrests have been made.”