SNIFFER dogs were sent into Southend pubs to search for class A drugs last night.

A team of 40 officers flooded the pubs and sealed off the exits and toilets.

They then searched anyone who was picked out by the drugs dogs as a possible suspect. They seized cocaine and ecstacy pills during the operation.

Their first visit was to the White Horse pub, in Southchurch Road, at about 7.30pm where a package of suspect pills were found and a man was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs with intent to supply.

The convoy of four police vans, a prison bus, a mobile police station, four marked cars, and three unmarked cars then snaked through the streets to the Exchange pub, in Southchurch Road, Southend.

Inside they found a wrap of cocaine and some pills which had been thrown on the floor. No one was arrested.

Checks were also carried out at Vie bar, in Leigh Broadway, Clouseau's, in Hamlet Court Road, Westcliff, and the Sunrooms, in Market Place, Southend, but no drugs were found.

Swabs were taken in the toilets of each pub which will be tested on the force's Ion Track machine for traces of illegal substances.

The information will then be fed back to the pubs and advice given if necessary.