Two hard-working police officers who went beyond the call of duty to bring down a high-tech drug dealer and seize tens of thousands of pounds worth of crack cocaine have been given an award.

After hearing reports of a gang dealing drugs on a Finsbury Park estate, Pcs Neil Hodgeman and Wes Pettitt set up an operation to monitor the situation.

They noticed four vans being used around the estate were all registered to one man, whose mother lived nearby.

One of the vehicles was impounded due to unpaid fines.

The gang knew it had been taken straight away due to tracking devices implanted in the vehicle and turned up with £3,000 in cash to get it back – one of the bailiffs also said he saw one of them with a gun tucked into his waist band.

The officers tried everything to track the owner of the vans, but the suspect had no financial records. Eventually they tied the vans to him via an address in Highbury.

His house was raided and keys to the vans found. One of them was full of crack cocaine and compressed cocaine in wraps, all of which was worth tens of thousands of pounds on the street.

Both officers put in extended duties and extra shifts to get their man.