POLICE carried out a series of raids aimed at stopping drug gangs, who have been forced out of Slough and London, turning to High Wycombe as a soft target.

More than 50 police were involved, targeting 21 suspects' houses across Chiltern Vale in the raids code named Operation Relentless.

More than a dozen people were arrested.

In one house, littered with used needles, officers found a baby girl. In another, ten officers had to break down a metal bar placed across the front door as a security measure. Inside police say they found drugs, a replica firearm and a knife.

Drugs officers fear the town could well be targeted by crack-peddlers and Jamaican "yardie" gangs making a career move to the south Bucks town.

Crack cocaine dealers are being pushed out of London, Slough, Reading and Oxford, all identified as high crack areas, in a nationwide strategy to combat the drug.

High Wycombe has already been identified as a high drug area and police are anxious crack does not become a problem too.

The notoriously addictive drug is linked with sharp rises in crimes such as burglaries and street robberies.

Two years ago the killing of Junior Brown in the town was linked to drug dealers moving out of London, especially from the Tottenham area.

Now they fear the town is about to be targeted for a second time.

On a daily basis police are now discovering yardies in High Wycombe who have travelled from London.

Detective Chief Inspector Melvyn Young, leading the Thames Valley-wide initiative, said: "Here you have got good transport links, an ethnically diverse population, nearby areas with existing problems. They are all precursors to a developing crime problem."

Police say they are determined to make the gangs' lives difficult.

He added: "We do not want to be seen as the soft option here."

DCI Richard List said: "Crack dealers will find someone who is vulnerable in the community. Their property gets taken over by people dealing drugs."

Su Davy, from the Buckinghamshire Drugs Action Team, said: "Dealers do end up getting vulnerable women hooked on crack. We know that it is not happening in Bucks yet but there are certain crack houses and certain areas they use. There are quite a few women out there who are being abused."

She added ethnic minorities were vulnerable to being preyed on by crack dealers.

Bucks Drug Action Team have recruited an Afro-Caribbean Drugs Worker for High Wycombe. They will also be recruiting an Asian community out-reach worker next year.

Three people have been charged with various offences.