SCOTLAND'S biggest social landlord has evicted 37 drug dealers in just five years - and aims to throw out as many again in the near future.

SCOTLAND'S biggest social landlord has evicted 37 drug dealers in just five years - and aims to throw out as many again in the near future.

Glasgow Housing Association said it would ramp up its programme of evictions against its most undesirable tenants in a move police believe is already causing serious disruption to the business of major crime gangs.

Thanks to a new intelligence-sharing deal with Strathclyde Police, the landlord is currently investigating more than 120 dealers and is now in a position to take legal action against more than 35 of them.

Recent successes, including a 37th eviction decree granted at Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday, come after the GHA appointed its own pointman, Bill May, to identify and evict dealers and, increasingly, their families.

Mr May, a former sergeant with Strathclyde Police, said: "We are going to investigate anyone caught dealing."

GHA is the first landlord to work so closely with police on identifying dealers, although several other authorities are looking at similar schemes.

Landlords have the power to evict both dealers and tenants who harbour dealers. However, only GHA and Renfrewshire Council are understood to have done so.

So far this year, Renfrewshire has won eviction decrees against the mother of a crack dealer and the partners of two other sellers. Overall, the council has carried out nine drug-related evictions this year.

Other social landlords have struggled to make such an impact and are looking with interest at the GHA system. Strathclyde's acting chief superintendent, Graham Cairns, said: "On a daily basis, we work with partner organisations to address all types of anti-social behaviour.

"The sale and supply of controlled drugs can have a significant impact on the quality of life experienced by local residents.

"The people involved in drug dealing do not concern themselves with the consequences and we take every opportunity to impact on this type of behaviour and arrest those involved."

But a Shelter Scotland spokeswoman said: "Moving convicted drug dealers on from their homes doesn't stop them dealing drugs, all it does is move the problem elsewhere.

"The hard-pressed community can breathe a sigh of relief but we need to try to address the cause of the problem and tackle the drug dealing itself.

"Where eviction is used, it should only be used as a last resort."

The drug evictions come on top of around 25 tenants who have been ordered by the courts to leave their GHA homes because of other anti-social behaviour.

GHA's neighbour relations team has now helped 11,000 victims of anti-social behaviour.