|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Explosive secret of the cannabis farm in semi next door
Valerie Elliott The Times
Tuesday 26 Jul 2005 Gas and electricity worth millions of pounds is being stolen for houses=20 that have gone to pot SECRET cannabis farms are being run by criminal gangs in suburban semis=20 throughout the Home Counties Once associated with 1970s hippies and=20 cultivated in communes in the Welsh hills, cannabis is now driving an=20 illicit harvest that could be responsible for sales of the drug on the=20 streets of Britain worth ukp100 million a year. The secret farming has been uncovered by energy companies who believe that= =20 electricity and gas worth ukp340 million a year is being stolen and that a= =20 substantial part of the theft is to power cannabis factories. British Gas has compiled figures to show that the number of incidents may=20 be doubling in a year. It investigated 46 cases last year but so far this=20 year there have been more than 71. A number of raids are still being=20 planned and the figure could reach more than 100 by the end of the year. Other companies are reporting similar trends. EDF Energy, for example, says= =20 that it is investigating 40 incidents a month. The Metropolitan Police=20 investigated 420 cases last year and expects the figure in London alone to= =20 reach 600 this year. What is intriguing, however, is that the factories are largely being=20 operated by criminal drug gangs originating in Asia. The =93farmers=94= tending=20 the plants are largely young illegal asylum-seekers, who do not speak=20 English, who have paid for unauthorised admission to Britain. In return for their passage they have to live hidden in squalid conditions,= =20 sleeping on mattresses on the kitchen floor, guarding the crop for their=20 gang masters. The scale of the harvest is enormous =97 some suburban semis are mere shells= =20 inside, concealing a vast operation. A house may seem quiet and largely=20 abandoned, but inside gangsters have demolished ceilings and floors to=20 allow the cannabis plants to grow into lofts in the roof. The plants =97 and in the most professional operations there could be 500 to= =20 700 growing under one roof =97 are watered by sophisticated hydroponic=20 irrigation systems and given direct light by highpowered heat lamps. These= =20 are not sun lamps but heavy duty lights commonly used by legitimate=20 commercial growers or to keep chicks warm on poultry farms. The problem is that the masterminds are fuelling their clandestine activity= =20 by tampering with meters and even worse, feeding gas through rubber=20 hosepipes sealed with putty or a bit of tape. They also run cables from the= =20 mains, and if these overheat they will melt, risking fire and gas=20 explosions affecting neighbouring houses. A senior investigator for British Gas said: =93A house may look normal=20 outside but inside these criminals have created a paddy field effect with=20 warm wind flowing from lamps and extractor fans and hundreds of leafy=20 plants moving side to side. The more heat and light, the faster they grow=20 and the bigger the crop.=94 He said that tell-tale signs to spot the factories were houses with windows= =20 always closed, sealed with tape, curtains permanently drawn or windows=20 lined with bin bags for insulation. Letter boxes may also be blocked and to= =20 disguise the pungent smell from the plants incense is burnt in hallways. In some cases criminals pay their energy bills regularly but ensure the=20 sums are low. The investigator said that raids were organised, sometimes with police, but= =20 that the =93Mr Bigs=94 were rarely caught and so prosecutions were low. The= =20 illegal immigrants were usually deported. He urged people to be alert to=20 the activity and report any suspicious comings and goings in the night,=20 especially from houses that seemed empty and quiet. Cannabis is harvested and then placed in bags that are usually carried away= =20 by a white van to another location for processing and bagging. An ounce of= =20 strong cannabis can fetch as much as ukp120 in the UK, though most of it is= =20 sold in eighths or quarters of an ounce. HIGH-ENERGY PROBLEM # Energy worth ukp340 million a year is stolen in Britain. About one third= =20 of this is used for cannabis cultivation # The average home uses ten units of electricity a day, costing about=20 ukp500 a year. Crooks need to steal ukp3,000 of electricity a year for a=20 small factory to be profitable # Cultivation of cannabis is dealt with under section 6 of the Misuse of=20 Drugs Act 1971. Prosecutions can be at magistrates=92 court, where the=20 maximum sentence is six months in jail, or in Crown Court where the maximum= =20 sentence is 14 years. Possession with intent to supply class C drugs is=20 dealt with under section 5 of the same Act. Maximum sentence is five years # Abstracting electricity is covered by section 13 of the Theft Act 1968.=20 Maximum sentence is five years
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!