A PUB landlady said she had no hesitation in alerting police when she suspected drugs were being taken on her premises.

Kim Riche-Webber, who runs the Dorset Soldier in Wareham Road, Corfe Mullen, has been praised by officers for her actions. Eight customers were detained after 12 officers swooped on the pub on Friday night.

Mrs Riche-Webb said she had had suspicions drugs were being taken in the pub for about six weeks.

She said: "I kept finding this white powder in the men's toilets so it was quite obvious something was going on. I asked staff to keep an eye on how long people were spending in there.

"Then we were passed a bank note with powder on so I called the police who had it tested and it went from there."

She said some of her regular customers were not impressed by the police raid which involved using Iontrack drug testing equipment to test customers as they arrived at the pub.

"Some thought it was heavy handed but I had no hesitation in calling the police. I don't want that sort of thing going on in my pub and I wanted to nip it in the bud before it got any worse."

And Mrs Riche-Webb, who has run the pub for three-and-a-half years, urged fellow licensees to do the same if they believed they had a drug problem on their premises.

"The best thing they can do is to stamp it out before it becomes a major headache," she added.

Licensing sergeant Dave Ramsay based at Poole said: "I really have to commend her for the fact that as soon as it was brought to her attention by staff she contacted us. She kept me up-to-date with the situation throughout."

Police were trying to get licensees to work alongside them to combat drug-taking in pubs, said Sgt Ramsay.

Following the raid, a 22-year-old Corfe Mullen man was cautioned for cannabis possession and a 19-year-old Poole man was arrested for possessing cannabis with intent to supply.