A swastika has been spray painted on the front door of the Dart Harbour office in Dartmouth.

The attack happened some time between the afternoon of New Year's Eve and 9am on Wednesday morning when it was found.

The attack comes on top of a number of criminal damage incidents in which harbour authority property has been targeted elsewhere on the river.

Harbourmaster Rob Giles said he found the graffiti attack involving a Nazi symbol 'offensive'.

And he added: "I find that associating Dart Harbour with the worst tyrannies that ever existed extremely upsetting.'

Police are investigating the attack which involved someone painting the swastika right across the Dart Harbour symbol on the front door to the authority's office in Oxford Street.

Mr Giles pointed out that over the last few weeks there had been incidents at Stoke Gabriel and Dittisham where signage and railings had been damage.

At Stoke Gabriel some six feet of railings alongside a ramp leading to new mooring pontoons had been stolen.

The police are also investigating these incidents.

'Dart Harbour takes a dim view of any criminal activities and will pursue them,' Mr Giles added.