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Thousands of pounds' worth of cannabis was found at the house
Cannabis farm uncovered
Emilene Coventry3/ 4/2008
POLICE are closing in on a criminal gang that converted a family home into a cannabis farm worth thousands of pounds.
Acting on a tip-off, officers burst into the semi-detached house on Shakespeare Avenue, Droylsden at 8am on Wednesday to find around 150 mature plants along with an electronic growing system.
All of the rooms in the three-bedroom house had been converted to grow the illegal drug, apart from the front room which was being used as a makeshift bedsit.
No-one was in the house at the time but Pc Dave Wright said officers expected to make arrests soon.
“We have information which we will hopefully be using to make arrests imminently on the basis of cultivation of cannabis and illegal extraction of electricity,” he said.
The gang had tapped into the mains electricity supply to power the equipment, making the house a “death trap”, he added.
“The electrical inspector said it’d been wired up like a grenade. It could’ve exploded in someone’s face.
“As well as the mature plants, there were pots that had contained plants that were already harvested. There could have been up to 300 plants in total with a street value of thousands of pounds.”
The operation was thought to have been going on for more than six months.
“This is the fourth such incident in the area. It’s believed to be a multi-million pound business that has been set up by gangs of criminals. Potentially a lot of them are linked to illegal immigrants, particularly those from Vietnam. They’re paying people to cultivate the plants.
“This is a priority for us. If anyone has suspicions that it maybe going on – if the blinds are constantly closed, if there are strange smells coming from the address or people coming and going at all different times, we would urge them to contact police,” said Pc Wright.
Anyone with information should telephone 872 5050 or Crimestoppers free and in confidence on 0800 555111.
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16/04/2008 at 15:10
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If Cannabis was legalised, it would hit underground dealers hard, except it won't due to taxation issues.
21/04/2008 at 10:04