POLICE were yesterday continuing their fingertip search of the Bishop's Waltham home of a convicted drugs smuggler.

They are still concentrating their efforts on the garden at the back of the semi-detached house in the small cul-de-sac, fuelling speculation that they are looking for buried human remains.

On the fifth day of the police investigation of the address in Hoe Road, four detectives spent more than three hours at the house.

They took away five large brown police evidence bags and drove away in two people carriers.

The officers had taken a metal detector and stepladder into the garden which they took away with them when they left.

Over the past few days officers have concentrated their efforts on the conservatory at the back of the semi-detached property.

They were seen digging up sections of the garden.

Forensic experts have already removed several rolled-up carpets, three mattresses, boxes of files and three interior doors.

Hampshire police today maintained their wall of silence refusing to comment on the investigation that began on Monday when a search warrant was executed.

The house is owned by drug smuggler John Howett, jailed three years ago at Kingston Crown Court for his involvement in a multi-million-pound drug smuggling ring.

The 51-year-old is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight for his part in helping to smuggle £16m of cannabis into the country.

His wife Tracey - whom he married last year in prison - lives in the property but has spent the last five days at a Portsmouth hotel while the police carry out their search.

The investigation has been code-named Operation Arkholme and is being led by Det Chief Insp Robert Duncan of the Western Major crime Team.

He said the house search is part of a long-running inquiry and that the house could be a historical crime scene.