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UK: Cannabis growers take their cue from hit film

Andrew Alderson

The Telegraph

Sunday 02 Oct 2005

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The Discovery was made among tall trees and thick bracken on a remote cliff
top near a Cornish fishing village.

The terrain was so inaccessible that officers had to crawl to reach the
scores of cannabis plants being grown illegally in the mild, moist climate.

The audacious crime could well have been inspired by the film Saving Grace.
In the hit comedy, Brenda Blethyn plays a Cornish widow growing marijuana
on her coastal estate in order to pay off her late husband's debts.

Detectives in Penzance, however, are this weekend trying to trace real
criminals, who have been illegally cultivating hundreds of thousands of
pounds worth of the drug close to National Trust land.

The crops were discovered by chance when an officer in a police
surveillance helicopter spotted what he thought were marijuana plants and
filmed what he could see. He notified colleagues in Penzance who began
making inquiries.

Based on the filmed evidence from the helicopter and information from
informants, police eventually seized 60 plants at three sites, worth a
total of UKP25,000. Officers discovered, however, that most of the crop had
already been harvested and sold.

Police have been astounded by the audacity of the growers and fear this may
have been going on undetected for years. Cannabis was recently downgraded
from a Class B to a Class C drug, but those cultivating it still face up to
five years in jail.

Officers have not yet made any arrests, but Acting Sergeant Tom Patrick,
who is leading the police operation, is confident that the net is closing
on those responsible for cultivating the crops on common land.

Mr Patrick said: "We have found cannabis plants at three sites, but at the
largest the main crop had been harvested about a week earlier. We hope to
make arrests soon."

Most plants were found off a coastal footpath between Mousehole and Lamorna
Cove. Smaller amounts of the drug were found at two sites at Raginnis Hill
above Mousehole.

"The main crop off the footpath was very well camouflaged," said Mr
Patrick. "The cannabis could really only be seen from the air. To get to
the plants and drag them out, we were on our hands and knees in thick
bracken and woodland. For the general public out walking, this area would
have been totally impenetrable.

"We now know there are four or five other areas where cannabis is being
grown and that the crops would have been worth hundreds of thousands of
pounds."

In Saving Grace, which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 2000,
villagers turn a blind eye to the illegal exploits of Grace Trevethyn, a
keen gardener, because they feel sorry for her because she is saddled with
debts. Those providing a market for her illegal activities include a local
pot-smoking doctor played by Martin Clunes.

Penzance police, however, hope local residents will "shop" those
responsible for growing the marijuana. Mr Patrick said: "The situation is
reminiscent of Saving Grace but we don't want to trivialise this crime.
Cannabis is an illegal and dangerous drug and it does have a bad effect on
local communities. If we can show that people have made a certain amount of
money from cultivating cannabis, we are entitled to seize their assets."

Malcolm Pilcher, a Conservative councillor for Penzance South, the ward
that includes Mousehole, said: "The police need to come down hard on
whoever is responsible."

 

 

 

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