IT WAS the culmination of a two-week surveillance operation, involving 18 police officers and state-of-the-art intelligence equipment to shut down what is alleged to be the town's main crack house.

Two suspected pushers in Howley were arrested and a £3,000 per day supply network cracked, which police say brought each man a daily revenue of £500.

And the Warrington Guardian was given exclusive access to the day's events, from the operation briefing and the morning raid, finding out how police are targeting drug abuse in the town.

At Warrington Police Station reporter Becky Kelly and photographer Ian Park were briefed together with a specialist team enlisted from the force headquarters.

The team comprised of undercover officers, drug detectives and the area support group, who had just returned from duty at the G8 Summit in Edinburgh.

Detective Sergeant Adrian Priest, head of Warrington drug unit, said: "This was a well practiced network.

"Residents had complained of large groups of drug addicts asking for change to buy crack cocaine and heroin and dealing outside elderly people's homes, amounting for a large amount of street dealing."

This is how the day unfolded:

7.30am - A team of undercover officers parked in a street nearby the suspected drug den to monitor the dealers' early movements.

8.45am - Five vehicles, four unmarked and one panda car, waited in roads close to the dealer's property, to stop a driver of a black Ford Puma on his daily cocaine and heroin drop.

Suspected customers were seen visiting the house, waiting for the supplier to arrive from Liverpool.

10.50am - Support officers wearing bullet-proof vests pulled the driver from the car and arrested the suspect as he pulled up to the Howley address. The house was then raided by the drugs unit and two suspected street dealers arrested.

11.10am - Three men and a woman were taken for interviews. The woman was later released without charge.

11.15am - Syringes and drug paraphernalia were discovered throughout the house, while a 36-year-old officer was taken to Warrington General for a Hepatitis B injection following an injury from a needle.

11.25am - Following the bust, trained sniffer dog, Spot, had the task of examining the supplier's Ford Puma car for additional drug stashes.

Police had monitored the vehicle making £1,500 deliveries twice daily to the address.

It is thought each drop off contained 12 batches of heroin and cocaine, generating 168 sales every day in Warrington.

The Brittany Springer Spaniel was guided through the car, while hub caps and mirrors were removed for to ensure every inch was meticulously checked. Nothing was recovered.

For Spot it was the first day back to work following 15 stitches from an injury sustained on barbed wire during a previous police operation.

DS Priest added: "If the community complain, police will do something to stop these crimes.

"The general public should have confidence that we will continue this crackdown."