Morag Kinniburgh reports on the operation

Officers are said to have infiltrated drugs gangs allegedly involved in supplying heroin, crack and amphetamines in the city and the elsewhere in the Lothian and Borders area.

Thirty-six people, eight women and 28 men aged between 19 and 51, appeared in private at Edinburgh Sheriff Court charged with a variety of drugs offences. Eleven were remanded in custody.

Parts of Edinburgh were targeted

Fifty addresses in the Craigmillar and Liberton areas and elsewhere in Midlothian were targeted during four days of raids, involving 150 officers each day.

By Monday morning, 41 people were in custody.

Police said they made "significant" recoveries of drugs including heroin, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and Ecstasy, with a value of more than £60,000.

Cash totalling £33,000 was seized along with allegedly stolen property.

It was the third phase of the force's anti-drugs campaign Operation Foil, which began last December.

The BBC's Bob Dickson reports from a police news conference

Since then, 440 people have been arrested and 520 premises searched.

Lothian and Borders Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood said the operation involved a hand-picked team of officers and only a small handful of people had known the details.

DCC Tom Wood: "Very risky operation"

"It has been a very risky, very arduous, very long, very complex operation," he said.

"I would like to think that what we have done is deal a very serious blow to the drugs supply in this part of the world but we can never be complacent.

"I would not like to leave anybody with the impression that the matter is finished and resolved.

"We are intent on continuing our initiative against heroin and serious drug supplies."

Glasgow cannabis arrest

Police in Glasgow have seized cannabis resin worth £36,000 from a house in the Easterhouse area of the city.

A 26 year-old-man was arrested in connection with the seizure.