FURTHER arrests among East Lancashire's legal profession could be made as part of a police probe into drugs money laundering, police revealed today.

Three solicitors and a legal assistant were among 12 suspects arrested by officers from the National Crime Squad on Wednesday.

Ten of the 12 were released on bail pending further inquiries yesterday after spending a night in police cells.

A man arrested in Keighley was continuing to help police with their inquiries and a Burnley man arrested in the Spanish holiday resort of Malaga is still not back in Britain.

"We cannot rule out further arrests and investigations are on-going," a spokesman for the National Crime Squad said today.

The 10 suspects released have been bailed without charge, but have been asked to report back to police stations in Lancashire at a later date.

"There could be more arrests and they could come from within the legal profession or outside it", the spokesman added.

Legal practices in Blackburn, Earby, Burnley and Clitheroe were targeted by police and homes in Barnoldswick, Clitheroe, Padiham and Colne were searched.

Computer equipment and documents were taken by officers as part of Operation Norfolk.

Investigations into money laundering began after the break-up of a drug-dealing gang known as The Firm.

Head of the gang, Mathew Glover, of Foxstones Lane, Cliviger, was sentenced to 25 years behind bars after amassing £3 million from drug dealing.

The Firm was said to have accumulated huge profits over years of illegal activity and Glover's associates received jail terms totalling 101 years.