Sniffer dogs will be taking to the pubs of Newtown on Saturday night (September 14) with the aim to make the town a "drug free zone".
The National Canine Training Centre, based in Newtown, will be sending out drug detection dogs and their handlers to pubs in the town, with the consent of landlords, alongside Dyfed-Powys Police officers. Any drugs found will be confiscated, and people won't be arrested unless they refuse to hand over their drugs.
Steve Dineley runs the dog training company, and has 10 years of military dog handling expertise in detecting drugs and explosives.
"I don't want the dogs to find any drugs. I want this to be a deterrent. I want people to know they'll be caught, and to not bring drugs into the pubs and clubs. I want to make Newtown a drug free zone," he said.
Steve says that police are more focused on people at the top of the drugs chain, and not individuals.
"We want people to think 'I don't want to buy a gram of coke if it's just going to get taken off me'," Steve said.
"That's what parents want to stop. They want to know their kids aren't going to start taking drugs."
The plan is to make the sniffer dog drug searches regular occurrence, and not just a one off. Steve added: "We don't want it to just be for Newtown. We want to push it to the whole of Wales. But we'll start in towns like Newtown, Welshpool and Aberystwyth, where there may be drug issues."
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