£10,000, 'crucial mobile phones' and hundreds of snap bags: Doors bashed down and dozens arrested as Greater Manchester Police battle to rid Piccadilly Gardens of drugs

Dozens of people suspected of keeping a notorious Manchester hotspot awash with illegal drugs have woken to the sound of police at their doors. Hundreds of officers were called up to search properties and arrest suspects believed to be dealing drugs in Piccadilly Gardens.

It follows a covert operation to track the movements of suspected drug dealers in Piccadilly Gardens as part of Operation Vulcan - the Greater Manchester Police project which is cracking down on crime in the area, having already transformed the area of Strangeways once known as 'Counterfeit Street'. Around 300 officers executed 23 warrants from 5am today (May 14).

In total, 22 men and two women - aged from 18 to 45 - have all been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs. They remain in custody while their homes are being searched.

READ MORE: Festival-goers 'urinating, shouting, and damaging property' in Stockport village

So far, around £10,000 in cash, hundreds of snap bags filled with drugs and several 'crucial' mobile phones and sim cards have all been seized. Detective Superintendent Neil Blackwood, who is leading Operation Vulcan, said: "The community have been telling us for a long time [that] drug dealing is rife in Piccadilly Gardens.

"It's a pre-cursor to a lot of other behaviour - violent disorders, anti-social behaviour. People go there unfortunately to buy and use drugs, which causes other criminality to flourish.

"So we want to stamp that out. We want to make sure that Piccadilly Gardens isn't a place where drug dealers can flourish. We want to make sure that they're taken out, and not welcomed back."

Operation Vulcan launched in the Piccadilly area last September, a year after the same project began in the