A SUSPECT tried to hide from police in a locked bathroom during a raid as part of a probe into a drugs gang selling crack, heroin and cocaine in south Essex.

Officers from Essex Police's anti-gang team raided a property in Stratford, east London, after 9am this morning alongside a Metropolitan Police unit.

A suspect was detained after attempting to lock himself in a bathroom and was later taken to Grays Police Station for questioning.

ArrestArrest - man detained by police officers (Image: Essex Police)

Police searched the house and seized a mobile phone, a quantity of cash and a passport

T/Detective Sergeant Mason Doyle said “We have been building intelligence on a drugs line selling Class A substances in Thurrock.

"The line was linked to an individual and addresses in London, and we are pleased to have arrested the person we were targeting.

Phone seized by policeSearch - a phone seized by police (Image: Essex Police)“County Lines drug dealing exploits vulnerable people and goes hand-in-hand with serious violence. The dealers’ profits help fund criminal activity that destroys lives and damages communities.

“We are working to dismantle the gangs, arrest those running these criminal operations and safeguard those who need our protection.

“We have a strong relationship with our colleagues in the Met and the today shows that if you’re intent on dealing drugs on the streets of Essex, even if you don’t live here, we will hunt you down.”