23/01/2008 00:00:00
UK: Cannabis worth 120,000 pounds seized
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POLICE have seized cannabis worth £120,000 in a raid on a plush suburban
home.
Officers discovered around 400 cannabis plants when they raided the
smart detached house in Tennyson Road, Ely, on Wednesday afternoon.
The drug squad found the hundreds of mature budding plants crammed into
each of the rented home's four bedrooms, while a nursery of almost 200
smaller plants filled the living room.
UV lights worth £10,000 and ventilation tubes were also found inside the
£250,000 home, which is just a few yards from a children's playground.
The home's electricity meter had also been bypassed and ran straight
into the mains.
A Vietnamese man - who is believed to be the drug factory's gardener -
was arrested at the scene and is now in custody at Parkside police
station in Cambridge.
Detective Sergeant Nick Skipworth said it was one of the biggest hauls
recovered in a series of cannabis factory raids in Cambridgeshire in the
past few weeks.
He said: "This was certainly a professional job and someone was going to
make a lot of money from these drugs.
"We received an anonymous tip-off from a member of the public about this
building and we sent an officer round who saw all the windows were
covered in black plastic.
"When we entered the building, we found all four bedrooms and the living
room were filled with cannabis plants.
"Looking at the plants, I think they would fetch £120,000 once they were
harvested and this could happen every three months or so.
"We've also found some bags of stalks in the loft, which suggest this
isn't the first crop."
DS Skipworth, from Parkside police station, urged landlords to keep an
eye on their properties and informed police if they have any suspicions.
He said: "These tenants will pay in cash upfront, but they will leave
thousands of pounds of damage.
"We need people to contact us if they think something is wrong. We know
what to look for and will make discreet inquiries - we're not going to
smash down the door without good reason."
The seizure is the latest success in a crackdown on 'skunk factories' in
Cambridgeshire, which has confiscated more than £250,000 of cannabis.
On Friday, £120,000 of cannabis was seized at a home in Friar's Way,
Littleport, while in November, £70,000 of cannabis was seized from a
home in Strollers Way, Sketchworth.
Tinh Duc Tran was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for cultivating
cannabis after a raid on a property in Kingfisher Way, Linton, in August.
About 400 plants with a street value of £60,000 were seized.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_home/DisplayArticle.asp?id=250803
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13194
Author:
Cambridge Evening News via UKCIA
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