Doherty held after drugs raid

Kate Moss's boyfriend, the singer Pete Doherty, was held overnight in a police cell after being arrested for suspected possession of a class A drug.

Doherty, who fronts the band Babyshambles, was one of two suspects arrested after a raid on a tour bus and concert venue.

The band had just played to a capacity crowd at the Shrewsbury Music Hall on Saturday night.

Doherty, 26, was released on police bail late yesterday afternoon and told to return for further questioning in December.

Emerging from Telford Police Station, he told reporters his arrest had been a ' misunderstanding' over the prescription drugs he takes to keep him off heroin.

'That is all they found,' he said. 'The police took me in and questioned me all afternoon.'

Doherty claimed an implant in his lower abdomen containing the pills designed to keep him off heroin had turned septic and was discharging the tablets. This led police to believe he was in possession of drugs.

He unbuttoned his trousers - which were torn down the side - to show off the implant.

Doherty said: 'The tablets were on prescription and I have to bring a letter from my doctor explaining what they are when I return. The police have got nothing on me.'

He added: 'It's all a load of rubbish. The law is a pain in the a***.'

Doherty's arrest came a few days after his girlfriend checked herself into the Meadows drugs rehabilitation clinic in Arizona.

This followed newspaper revelation and pictures of Miss Moss, 31, and Doherty snorting cocaine at a London recording studio. Miss Moss is said to have paid the £15,000 cost of his antiheroin implant.

Doherty's spokesman last night confirmed that he had been arrested for suspected possession of a class A drug and held overnight.

'Pete was taken away during a drugs raid at the Shrewsbury gig,' said the spokesman.

'The police waited until the band had finished the concert and then moved in.

'Both of the Babyshambles tour buses, one for the band and one for the crew, have been seized and are being examined, as I understand.'

A West Mercia police spokesman said a 'quantity of what's believed to be a class A drug' had been recovered, along with other items which will undergo forensic tests.

'This operation involved CID and traffic officers, dog handlers and forensic investigators,' the police spokesman added.

A woman was also arrested and was later released after questioning at nearby Wellington police station. She will face no further action.

Kate Moss's three-year- old daughter Lila Grace and the child's father, publisher Jefferson Hack, yesterday visited her at the Arizona rehabilitation clinic.

It was the first time Lila Grace had seen her mother since the model checked in last week, missing her daughter's third birthday.