A man was arrested in Soham last Thursday for possession of a class A and B drugs, alongside handling stolen goods as part of East Cambridgeshire Police’s latest crack-down.

‘Operation Edison’ has seen officers raid a number of properties in the Ely, Soham and Littleport area.

Camped around a large table in the depths of Ely police station, six officers calmly and intricately plan how the next stage of ‘Operation Edison’ is to unfold.

Once the briefing is complete, a convoy of police vehicles emerges from the gates of the force’s Nutholt Lane base, and sets off through the city towards Soham.

As we turn into a quiet, unassuming estate on the outskirts of the town, parents picking their children up from school can be seen dotted along the paths outside the modern houses.

Their heads turn in curiosity as the police cars pick up speed as we approach the property; snaking through the meandering roads of the suburban estate.

We arrive at 71 Heron Croft; a bottom floor flat at the end of a cul-de-sac.

Officers enter through the communal doors using a key, before stopping and advising us to ‘stand back,’ as one of the officers reaches for a battering ram.

Cries of ‘open the door’ are soon drowned out by a succession of silence-shattering blows to the reinforced entrance.

Mere feet away from the flat’s front door lies another flat, but nobody from inside so much as stirs as the door opposite finally succumbs to the force of the battering ram and falls from its hinges.

Officers flood down the hallway of the dully-decorated flat and find a man, sitting on his sofa, who is swiftly detained.

A look of confusion and shock covers the face of the man, as officers search the flat, and find a woman in a bedroom.

The woman is questioned in the living room before being led out of the flat by Sgt Phil Priestley, who advises her to ‘take care’ as she sets off past a group of onlookers that has gathered at the end of the cul-de-sac.

After a thorough search of the flat – looking through coat pockets and under sofa cushions - police confirm that the man voluntarily surrendered a stash of class A and B drugs – namely heroin and cannabis.

It’s also discovered that the man is in possession of a bicycle, thought to be stolen, and he is arrested just short of an hour after the police made initial entry into the flat.

The man doesn’t speak as he is led from the property to the back of a police car, where he is taken to Ely police station for questioning.

Sgt Priestley emerges from the flat shortly afterwards, stating that the operation was a ‘success’ and that the force “achieved all it set out to do thanks to the co-operation of the community”.