And volunteers collected dozens of bags of rubbish as a bid to rehabilitate the area in the wake of drugs-busting Operation Cleansweep picks up speed.

Organised by the Ord Road Committee Against Drugs (ORCAD), clean-up squads combed the road, which was split up into five sections, picking up trash.

Rudolf Haak, who lives near Ord Road's Paget end and six other volunteers cleaned the area from Cobb's Hill Road to Paget Primary School.

He said: "I spent the morning there with my son -- I saw it yesterday evening and it looked pretty good.

"Like anything else, there could have been more people and hopefully next time there will be more turning out.'' Mr. Haak said the worst spot for trash on his beat was at the bus stop in front of Paget Primary.

He added: "We took out a TV and two bags full of trash from behind the bus stop and there's still some stuff down there -- it's unbelievable.'' ORCAD organiser Duane Santucci earlier said the goal of the literal clean sweep of the area was to boost the area's image in the wake of the huge Police operation, which targeted Ord Road as a particularly bad area for street drug-dealing.

Mr. Santucci added that the committee had no intention of allowing the drugs problem to return.

Mr. Haak added yesterday: "I wouldn't mind doing it every couple of months or so and it would be good if more people took part.'' Webb criticises drug rehab proposals: Page 2 Editorial: Page 4 After Cleansweep: Page 5