Drug dealers are being targeted in a new hard-hitting campaign to drive them out of Oxfordshire's pubs and clubs.

Thames Valley Police and the county's Nightsafe schemes are trying to frighten off pushers with new posters showing a drugs dealer in handcuffs with the slogan 'Try dealing drugs with your hands behind your back'.

The posters have been produced as a joint Nightsafe and Operation Falcon scheme.

Thousands are to be distributed by Nightsafe officers from Cherwell, Oxford, South Oxfordshire, the Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire councils to licensees.

Oxfordshire police drugs coordinator Dc Leigh Thompson said: "These posters will let dealers know just how great a risk they are taking if they attempt to peddle their gear in our pubs and clubs.

"Drug dealing in Oxfordshire pubs and clubs is not rife, but it does happen and we want to work with licensees to make sure their businesses are not blighted by it.

"Operation Falcon is here to stay and we will be carrying out further operations like this."

Oxford Nightsafe manager Karen Crossan said: "We want pubs and clubs to be safe places for everyone, from big nightclubs to your local. This joint operation will highlight for the public that drug dealing of any sort in licensed premises will not be tolerated.

"This poster campaign will work in conjunction with the operations that the Nightsafe schemes in other areas already carry out, using drug dog detection teams to enforce the same message across the county."

Last week, the Oxford Mail reported that retired Banbury pub landlady Annie O'Neill, who ran the Coach and Horses in Butcher's Row for 12 years, raised £2,000 to buy Thames Valley Police the specialist search dog, Skippy.

Nightsafe is a scheme which involves health agencies, emergency services and city and county councils and aims to reduce booze related crime and disorder.

Operation Falcon is a joint police council, health and social services project which aims to empower residents and communitites to take action against drug crime.