A CANVEY man has been arrested after police discovered £400 worth of cannabis, split up into small dealer bags, under the passenger seat of a car.

The 21-year-old, who lives on the island, was stopped by officers on patrol in Benfleet after they were alerted to a Ford Fiesta acting suspiciously.

PC Tony Mayo, from the dog unit, said the car piqued his “spider senses” because of the way it was being driven.

When he stopped the car, he said that, although the driver handed him a small bag of cannabis, he decided to carry out a full search.

He said: “I saw a man in a Ford Fiesta, which alerted my suspicions - my spider senses came into play.

“He drove a certain route that didn’t seem right to me.

“I stopped him and spoke to him.

“He seemed really spaced out and stank of cannabis.

“Whilst I was chatting to him, he tried to surrender a small bag of cannabis, but I spotted a phone in the car which made me think that it was his dealer’s phone.”

During a full search of the car, officers uncovered 40 bags of cannabis under the passenger seat, as well as £700 in cash.

PC Mayo added: “This was a good result for us in terms of confiscating the drugs and getting them off the streets.”

Canvey councillor Ray Howard congratulated the police on discovering the drugs.

He said: “As a county councillor I listen to my colleagues that come from all over Essex and they all speak about problems all over the county when it comes to drugs.

“Drugs are a major, major problem and I sympathise with the police because they must have a very difficult job in terms of tracking down these people and finding drugs.

“My plea would be to the residents of Canvey to stop buying the drugs.

“If you didn’t buy them then the drug dealers would have no reason to be here.

“I get lots of representations from my constituents that they see drug deals going on and that can be very hurtful to the community.

“It’s good to hear that they have got these drugs off the streets.”

Essex Police have a dedicated drugs gang team, codenamed Operation Raptor, which carries out proactive patrols, stop checks on vehicles and search warrants on homes.

Last year, Essex Police announced that drugs with an estimated street value of more than £2 million have been taken off the streets of Essex since the launch of Operation Raptor.

The team rely on intelligence to carry out raids of homes and are urging people to contact them.

Anyone with information about drugs in south Essex can call Essex Police on 101, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Alternatively they can visit crimestoppers-uk.org to fill out an online form.

The 21-year-old man from Canvey was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class B drugs.

He was taken to a police station for questioning and has since been released on bail to appear at Basildon police station on Wednesday, March 29.