of Operation Cleansweep.

A Police spokeswoman reported that there were 346 drug-related seizures during the first six months of the year compared to 304 over the same period of time in 1996.

Ports of entry accounted for 95 of these while the other 251 came off the streets. Of these street seizures, 81 were from Operation Cleansweep.

Figures also show that 234 people were arrested for drug related offences between January and June of this year. There were 238 arrests during the same period in 1996.

And the quantities of drugs seized over the first half of the year are down in comparison to the same period last year.

Seizures of cocaine dropped to 137.9 grams from 3.55 kilograms and cannabis seizures fell from 45.31 to 42.36 kilograms.

Cocaine free base and cannabis resin seizures fell respectively from 138.85 and 887.56 grams in 1996 to 38.19 and 286.34 grams in 1997.

However diamorphine -- or heroin -- and cannabis plant seizures were up from 99.04 to 318.26 grams and from 164 to 540 plants respectively.

Yesterday the spokeswoman said the drop was due to limited proactive operations by Narcotics officers in the second quarter of the year as they were gathering intelligence for the drug sting.

And she noted that Operation Cleansweep targeted street-level drug dealers, not the drugs they carried, using surveillance equipment and undercover US Drug Enforcement Agency officers.

These dealers carried smaller amounts of drugs than importers and this caused drug seizure figures for the first six months of the year to reflect lower quantities in comparison to seizures over the same period last year.

The Police force also released crime statistics for the first six months of 1997 that show the number of major crimes were up from 1,327 for the same period last year to 1,517.

Increases were seen in the categories of violent crimes, up to 174 from 161, theft, up to 195 from 140, and breaking offences, up to 592 from 421.

DRUGS DGS