09/01/2008 00:00:00
UK: Police's 50th cannabis factory find in city
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A MAN had a rude awakening from Peterborough police as they stormed a
house – discovering their 50th cannabis factory inside.
When detectives hammered on the door of the neat, red-brick home in
Beechwood Close, Dogsthorpe, the male occupant leapt from his mattress
in the kitchen in shock.
He had been fast asleep and wasn't expecting the 7am alarm call today.
Officers scoured the premises and found about 250 cannabis plants
crammed wall-to-wall in four rooms.
It is believed they were four weeks old, and just eight weeks away from
hitting the city streets.
The haul is valued at about £70,000 and the electrical equipment,
including transformers, which was rigged up inside and had been
hazardously bypassed, was worth about
£11,000.
A team of officers and Police Community Support Officers wearing gloves
and masks to protect them from the spores began the process of bagging
up the plants.
Children on their way to school cycled and walked by, looking on as the
officers carried out their work.
The raid was part of Cambridgeshire Police's Door a Day initiative.
One neighbour said: "I've never seen anything like it in my street."
Detective Constable Shanie Nayar, who was leading the operation, said:
"This is my 50th cannabis factory since May 2006.
"It is all part of organised crime.
"The electricity in the house was bypassed, and it could have gone up at
any time."
She said it was pleasing that offenders were pleading guilty when they
appeared in court and were being handed jail terms of between two and a
half years and four years.
A man has been arrested in connection with the raid.
http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/Police39s-50th-cannabis-factory-find.3654092.jp
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13128
Author:
Peterborough Evening Telegraph via UKCIA
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