A SENIOR police officer has labelled Paddy's Market a centre for drug dealers and illegal porn.

Superintendent Tom Doran blasted the high levels of crime at the market on the city's Shipbank Lane.

He made his attack as more than 100 police officers launched a major raid on the market.

Reader Poll After the latest police raid on Paddy’s Market recovered fake goods and a knife, should it be closed without further delay? Yes 67.8% No 29.6% Don't know 2.6%

Fake CDs and DVDs - the vast majority pornographic - were seized and Customs officials took away bags of cigarettes and toys which had been smuggled into the country.

And as part of the investigation - codenamed Operation Bazaar - eight men were arrested yesterday on suspicion of dealing in Class A drugs at the market.

The arrests were made at their homes by CID officers after lengthy surveillance of the area. Most - aged between 16 and 46 - are expected to appear in court today.

Police were accompanied by trading standards officials, British Transport Police, Revenue and Customs staff, Glasgow Community and Safety Services and officers from the Federation Against Copyright Theft.

Stall traders were warned ONE of Paddy's Market's biggest supporters has said anyone caught with illegal goods in yesterday's raid will have no place in a new-look market. Councillor Craig Mackay has fought to protect the livelihoods of the existing traders. But he said it was "difficult to have sympathy" for anyone found with counterfeit goods and contraband. He added: "I certainly welcome drug dealers being lifted'. "They are not part of the market itself. In any market or shopping street there will be a minority that flouts the rules. "I think it is a minority here but I cannot condone illegal trading." He said he didn't expect anyone found to have been trading illegally to have a future in the new market the council is planning. He added: "They have had plenty of warning, they knew they had to be legal and if they carried on trading illegally it is difficult to have any sympathy for them." Councillor Mackay said the raid did not affect his belief that legitimate traders would be included in the new council-run market. A spokeswoman for the traders also welcomed police taking action against drug dealing in the area. She added: "But the way the police operation has been carried out has meant that genuine traders have lost a day's income. "The unnecessary disruption that has been caused appears to be an attempt to blacken the reputations of genuine, hard-working, law-abiding citizens."

The market was sealed off at both ends as police cleared the area of shoppers and detained stallholders while the entire area was searched.

Officers found a three-inch blade lying at the Clyde Street entrance. They believe it was dropped by someone who fled when police arrived.

Police with sniffer dogs combed the area and fingertip searches of the goods on sale were carried out.

A total of 101,000 cigarettes were taken from market stalls. A spokesman for Revenue and Customs said some of them were counterfeit and others smuggled into the country.

The swoop was the culmination of a lengthy investigation into crime levels at the market, which is scheduled to close next year.

Supt Doran, who led the raid, said the exercise was "aimed at getting rid of criminality in Paddy's Market".

He said it had been weeks in the planning and was "very successful".

He added: "It is a robust attack in addressing the various types of crime that exist down there.

"They include drug dealing, violent crime and the sale of counterfeit goods and contraband.

"There is a very high level of crime at Paddy's for the size of the area. The market has a long history and we know what it means to the generations of people that have been coming here but it has unfortunately attracted a criminal element for sometime now.

"This type of activity just cannot go on. It tars the legitimate traders with the same brush and brings undesirables to the area.

"My priority is to make sure the people who live, work and visit this side of the city, can go about their everyday business without fear or intimidation.

"We will continue to disrupt any criminal or antisocial behaviour activity.

"We are neutral about whether the market should stay open. Irrespective of what councillors want we are addressing the criminal aspect of what is happening."

Paddy's has been earmarked for closure by Glasgow City Council, which is about to take over the lease from Network Rail.

It has said it wants to clear the area of all traders unless they are "legitimate" and to turn the venue into an arty street market.

Some councillors have also angered traders - one referring to the market as a "crime-ridden midden".

Yesterday's raid was hailed as a major success by all the agencies concerned.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: "This is a fantastic result for the council's trading standards officers and the other agencies involved.

"High levels of crime, anti-social behaviour have increasingly become a significant problem in Shipbank Lane. They have had a detrimental impact on residents and visitors and on the efforts to improve the Merchant City.

"We have been saying for a long time that these problems need to be eradicated and the efforts of Strathclyde Police and other agencies will go a long way to achieving that.

"The priority for the Council has always been to ensure that Paddy's can operate as a safe and reputable market.

"We want operations to be managed, leases controlled, security and cleansing services provided and to ensure that all traders have appropriate licences."

Colin McAllister, assistant director of the UK Border Agency, which took over the detection work of Revenue and Customs, said the main concern was to stop the "criminality" in the market.

He added: "When we do take these smuggled cigarettes off the street we are protecting legitimate traders like newsagents and tobacconists in the area who can't sell stuff because people can buy it cheaper at the market."