Residents in Fawcett Road, Southsea, inundated police with reports that drug addicts were hanging around outside Ahmet Ceylan's house.

As a result officers raided Ceylan's property on July 16, to execute a search warrant.

Just moments before the raid they had stopped two addicts leaving Ceylan's home and found both were in possession of a small quantity of heroin.

When police searched the property they found around £400 worth of heroin under the kitchen sink. They also seized a smaller quantity of crack cocaine from the lounge.

Ceylan, 49, was arrested in an alleyway behind the house.

When Ceylan was quizzed by police he admitted he had been drug dealing from the property.

He said he had been peddling drugs in Portsmouth for around three months and had been raking in about £500 a day from the operation.

He told officers he used the profits to buy drugs for himself. Now Ceylan is facing a 32-month prison sentence after admitting a string of drug-related offences.

Police praised members of the public for bringing his actions to their attention.

Detective Constable Dan Sanzen-Baker said: 'A great deal of the information we had on Ahmet Ceylan came from members of the public contacting us.

'They told us that addicts would gather outside his house at all times of the day and night and were causing a general nuisance.

'As a result we were able to use the information to secure an arrest and a conviction to make the Fawcett Road area a safer place.'

PC Tony Jeacock from Southsea Police Station added: 'It shows how important a role the public can play in tackling drugs and the associated problems of crime.

'It's fair to say that since Ceylan has been in prison there has been a noticeable drop in low level crime in the Fawcett Road area.'

Ceylan is likely to serve half of the 32-month sentence in custody before being released into the community on licence.