POLICE carried out a drugs raid on a home in Chatteris yesterday afternoon - but emerged empty handed.

A convoy of two police vans, two police cars and an unmarked police car set off from March Police Station shortly before 1pm to a house in West Park Street, Chatteris.

Once they arrived on the busy street, they did a lap of the neighbourhood and then pulled up outside the house.

The team of nine officers sprung into life and descended on the home.

Two officers carrying battering rams dislodged the front door at the first attempt and charged inside.

Two men, who were sat in the living room, were bundled to the floor before they could get any further than the kitchen.

They were handcuffed and briefly interrogated in the kitchen before being led to the police van where they waited while a sniffer dog carried out a thorough search of the house.

The search lasted almost an hour but nothing was found, so the men were de-arrested.

Two PCSOs knocked on the surrounding houses to explain the purpose of the raid, while another officer marshalled traffic.

The raid was the first of two Class A drug warrants due to be carried out within Fenland yesterday.

Det Insp Dave Murphy said: “We were not expecting huge seizures of drugs, however we believe raids like this one are good disruption tactics in terms of the individuals we are targeting.

“There has been an increase in burglaries in Chatteris in recent weeks, which we believe are linked to drugs, and we are trying to make a swift intervention to stop this from happening.

“We have adopted a zero tolerance approach and want to send a clear message to those responsible.

“We’ve already had good feedback from residents who are concerned about finding needles in the street.”