POLICE were today continuing their investigations in the garden of the former Hampshire home of a man caught up in a multi-million-pound drug smuggling ring.

Officers are believed to have been searching the home and garden of the house in Bishop's Waltham since the beginning of the week.

Mystery surrounds the operation, details of which did not emerge until yesterday. Police are refusing to release any information on the search, which they said began after they received "intelligence''.

They also added that the operation was "historical'' and had nothing to do with the current owners of the semi-detached house in Hoe Road.

Police added the investigation was part of a long-running inquiry, codenamed Operation Arkholme, which had been covert until today.

The house is the former home of John Howett, who is currently serving 12 years in jail after being part of a gang which flooded Britain with £16m of cannabis.

Howett was one of a gang of men jailed at Kingston Crown Court three years ago following an operation

co-ordinated by the Southampton branch of the National Crime Squad. Assistance in the investigation was also received from Customs and Excise and the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

The 51-year-old had denied the conspiracy to smuggle and in July this year had an appeal against his conviction thrown out by the Appeal Court in London.

Assistance in the investigation was also received from Customs and Excise and the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

The 51-year-old had denied the conspiracy to smuggle and in July this year had an appeal against his conviction thrown out by the Appeal Court in London.

The court heard that Howett, who has a second home in the Costa del Sol, was a member of the gang which brought cannabis into the UK in crates full of car parts from France and Spain.

The National Crime Squad operation began in June 1998, initially concentrating on haulage companies in the Southampton and Portsmouth areas.

The gang was caught when police raided a warehouse in Hackney, London, and uncovered 450kg of the drug with a street value of £1.5m.

This morning officers remained on guard at the house in the quiet cul-de-sac, which contains six properties, and all the lights in the house remained on.

Uniformed police officers conducted regular checks on the house.

Behind a grey police shield erected at the back of the house, forensic experts yesterday continued to search the garden, which backs on to moorland.

Uniformed officers refused to allow anyone to knock on the front door.

Howett's wife Tracy, who still lives at the house, has not been seen since Monday. It is believed she has been moved out while the investigation is carried out. Neighbours say Tracy married Howett while he was in prison.