THE drug death tally in south Essex has now reached six, sparking a desperate plea to try and stop users taking class A drugs.

Essex Police are now linking the tragedies confirming all six people who died had used a suspected class A drug and were all found in their own homes.

The deaths - three men and three women - have happened since Sunday morning. Two on Canvey, the others in Southend, Westcliff, Benfleet and Leigh.

It has not been confirmed which class A drug is behind the deaths, as speculation mounts of a dodgy batch being sold in south Essex.

Chief Supt Kevin Baldwin said: “We believe these deaths are linked to the taking of class A drugs and we can’t say for sure what those drugs are.

“There’s going to be a number of forensic tests carried out to identify the nature and content of them.

“It’s too early to say when those drugs may have been taken and when the deaths occurred.

“What I would say is all the deaths occurred in the people’s own homes.

“Ordinarily that’s a place where you can call for help and they’ve not been able to do that.”

Mr Baldwin said they were not able to confirm whether those who have died were drug addicts, but that the focus of their investigation at this time was on identifying others who may have been affected.

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He added: “We are trying to determine whether anyone else has been affected.

“Certainly we’re not aware of any more deaths at this stage but we need to work with our colleagues in the NHS to see if anyone else has taken ill.”

Mr Baldwin said the force’s drug squad - Operation Raptor - will be continuing their ongoing work to tackle drug dealing on the county’s streets.

He added: “No arrests have been made at this stage but we will certainly be looking into how those drugs came to be in possession of those people.

“We are continually pursuing those who sell drugs.

“We’ve got our raptor teams working in Essex and there’s ongoing work being done to target those selling drugs on our streets.

“We’re reviewing the work. A lot will depend on what the investigation tells us.

“Op Raptor will never stop. It’s continuing in investigations which carry on all the time and they will continue to target those who are involved drug dealing.”

It is unclear when the force will be able to shed more light on the nature of the drugs involved but Mr Baldwin promised officers were working “around the clock” to progress their enquiries.

He added: “Forensic tests will start straight away. A number of tests will be done over the next three days and they will be progressed immediately.

“Every effort is being made to get this done as quickly as we can.”

The force were unable to rule out whether the substance was a single class A drug or a cocktail of substances at this stage.