Police have seized a quantity of drugs following a crackdown at an Aberdeen mail depot.

Packages containing cannabis and diazepam were recovered in a joint operation involving Police Scotland and Royal Mail.

The drug packages came into the Altens sorting office and were scheduled to be delivered to properties in the North-east.

A police spokeswoman said: “There were three packages seized as part of an operation that contained cannabis and diazepam.

“Inquiries are still ongoing, no one has been charged.”

Royal Mail said it works with police and the Border Agency in such operations and it was the first time Police Scotland had used sniffer dogs at the Altens centre.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail does not knowingly carry any illegal items in its network.

“Where Royal Mail has any suspicion that illegal items are being sent through our system, we always work closely with the police and other authorities to assist their investigations and to prevent such activities from happening.

“For obvious reasons, we are not able to give any further details about our security measures as this would compromise our operations.”

Alan Strachan, of Nigg Community Council, formerly worked for the Royal Mail and said he was surprised to hear of the operation.

He said: “My only reaction was it is a very uncommon occurrence in this area and I’m very glad the police were vigilant and managed to find them.

“When I worked for them there was never anything like this that happened. I also worked for Parcel Force as a casual worker and to my knowledge nothing like this happened with them.”

In recent years, police across the UK have stepped up operations to crack down on drugs being bought and sold over the so-called “dark web”, encrypted websites that provide anonymity for users.