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Most forms of crime have decreased again in Haverhill, the town's police chief told residents at a public forum last night, and the police have chalked up some successes in the battle against drugs.

While most sections of crime had shown a fall against the three-year average for the town since April 1, Insp Peter Ferrie said drug offences were up and this reflected developments in the drugs scene being dealt with.

Police had been engaged in a large target operation since August in Haverhill, as two London gangs had moved in and tried to take over.

Police identified three major players, of whom two had been arrested and one was currently being sought, seized a lot of drugs and arrested a number of lower-level operatives.

There was now a target operation in place for a well-known Haverhill drug-dealer, whom they hoped to arrest soon.

Other areas of crime which showed an increase were shoplifting and domestic burglary, and Insp Ferrie said he was sure these had also been related to the drug scene as users stole to fund their habit.

He also disclosed comparative crime figures and detection rates for other Suffolk towns, with Haverhill coming out very favourably in both sets of statistics.