Pete Doherty arrested in drugs raid at concert hall

Both were released yesterday. Emerging from the police station, Mr Doherty protested his innocence and said medication used in an implant aimed at keeping him off drugs had been mistaken for the "hard stuff".

He said: "It's just some sort of mistake, that's all. It's just a prescribed thing."

Insisting that he was no longer taking drugs, Mr Doherty said: "The only drugs I had on me were prescription drugs in my implant, but it had gone septic and it's spewing them out. Speaking for myself, I have been clean on this tour. It's libellous to call me a smackhead; it's a good job I am too disorganised to sue."

A spokesman for Babyshambles said Doherty was forced to call off a 1,500-ticket gig at the University of East Anglia in Norwich last night. "Pete couldn't physically get from Shrewsbury to Norwich," he said.

A source close to Mr Doherty said it was not surprising the raid had occurred in the light of recent publicity generated by the musician, particularly the tabloid pictures of his girlfriend, Kate Moss, allegedly taking cocaine. She is in rehabilitation in Arizona.

The band, who plan to play a gig in Southend, Essex, tomorrow, have been touring Britain for nearly two weeks. The tour is due to finish on 11 October at the Brixton Academy in south London.

West Mercia police said a man and a woman had been arrested for suspected possession of a class A drug. The man was released on police bail pending further enquires and was due to return to the police station in December.

The raid was "intelligence-led" and involved CID and traffic officers, dog handlers and forensic investigators. A Class A drug was recovered, police said.