POLICE seized cocaine and heroin worth £15,000 in a dramatic dawn raid.

A team of officers swooped on Bewley Court, Whittingham Avenue, Southend, following suspicions about class A drug dealing.

They entered a flat at about 6.15am yesterday and carried out a fingertip search. They found white powder believed to be cocaine and heroin. The substances have now been sent off for forensic testing.

Three men, a woman and a 17-year-old youth were arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs with intent to supply.

A mother living in the flats, who would not be named for fear of reprisals, said: “It woke my kids up because because they started kicking and banging on the door, shouting for the bloke to let them in.”

She said there had been on-going problems with drug dealing on the stairwells and in some of the flats.

She added: “We’ve got crackheads running around the flats. It’s just not fair on the kids if they go up the stairs and you’ve got crack papers on the floor.

“That seems to be what tower blocks are for – people who do drugs.

“It’s the children we have to settle down at night and people wonder why the children in this area grow up the way they do. Living in a tower block isn’t a life for the kids.”

She said there was always urine in the lift, and excrement had been left in the stairwell for weeks without being cleared up.

She had made calls to the council about it, but said she was still waiting for a response.

An Essex Police spokeswoman said the suspects were a man, 52, from Southend, a man, 48, from Southend, a man, 68, from Rainham, a woman, 26, from Trinidad and a 17-year-old from West London.

Traci Dixon, group manager for South Essex Homes, said: “We take reports of any drug dealing very seriously and works with Essex Police to combat and take action against those responsible.

“We openly encourage residents to report any incidents to us, or Essex Police.”