A three-month operation at a north Wales ferry port has seized drugs with a street value of almost half a million pounds.

Police have made five major hauls at Holyhead after targeting passengers travelling to and from Dublin in the Irish Republic.

Detainees tested are provided with their reading

The seizures include 45,000 ecstasy tablets worth �360,000 and two kilos of heroin valued at �80,000.

In addition, a passenger entering from Ireland held as part of a drug-trafficking probe was found to be carrying Euros worth �40,000.

The announcement of the drugs busts comes in the week North Wales Police launched an initiative to cut the number of drug-users who commit crimes to fund their habit.

People being held in custody in Wrexham and Flintshire are being drugs tested after police were given special powers by the Home Secretary.

The scheme to test for heroin and cocaine use was introduced after research showed they were most commonly associated with drug-related crime.

New pilot sites

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The pilot is a joint initiative between North Wales Police and the Probation Service.

Similar projects in Hackney, London, Staffordshire and Nottingham have been running since 2001, and six new pilots are now being rolled out across the UK.

The only people compulsory drug tested will be those charged with offences which are viewed as specific trigger offences.

These include house burglary, robbery and heroin and cocaine drug-related crime.

North Wales Police's chief constable Richard Brunstrom is out-spoken on the need to reform the treatment of drug users.

'Rogue heroin'

He is a strong advocate of trialling the controlled prescription of heroin.

A conference this month organised by the North Wales Drug and Alcohol Forum, he said current UK drugs policy was "nonsense on stilts" and was to blame for 50% of Wales' 10,000 hard drug users turning to crime to fund their �2m-a-week habit.

His comments came as police in Cardiff were warning that a rogue batch of heroin may be circulating in city.

The warning followed the death of a 32-year-old who is believed to have taken the drug.