|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Police raid reveals wall-to-wall cannabis
R Brown brownr@hertsessexnews.co.uk The Mercury (Herts Essex News)
Friday 07 Jul 2006 THE Mercury joined Herts police raiding a drugs factory this week and learned that the county is fast becoming a prime area for 'cannabis commuters'. Organised criminal gangs are moving cannabis-growing operations out of London to Hertfordshire to evade Met Police crackdowns in the capital. We have already revealed how one £30,000 drugs factory was being run beside a school and youth club in Ware. But Hertfordshire Constabulary sent out a strong message to dealers and growers on Tuesday, when more than 40 officers raided a house in Gonville Crescent, Shephall, in Stevenage. Facing possible booby traps, firearms officers smashed through the door to discover a hydroponics factory with more than 300 cannabis plants, worth £60,000. They would have been harvested for sale as potent, high-grade herbal cannabis known as 'skunk', which a United Nations drugs report last week warned can be as dangerous as heroin or cocaine. As we followed officers into the three-bedroom house, the strong odour of cannabis and a blast of heat hit us, as temperatures reached 40C (104F). A complicated system of powerful lights and ventilation pipes spread like spaghetti through the sealed house. There was no room to walk. Plants covered every inch of floorspace in the bedrooms, lounge and kitchen. Only one small, tidy room was used to live in. It had a hotplate, pans filled with cooked vegetables and chopsticks. Vietnamese newspapers sat in a neat pile. The walls were covered with photographs of women cut out of magazines, including one of actress Keira Knightley. Officers believe the occupants were 'cannabis commuters', a term destined to be added to the lexicon of phrases describing criminal activity. PC Andy Speller, a field intelligence officer, said: "This is fairly new. It looks as though they live in London and commute here and stay the odd night. They're like cannabis commuters. "This is an indication of people being exploited by criminal gangs involved in human trafficking and drugs. "They are exploiting their naivety and desire to stay in the UK, and they come in on false pretences and find themselves looking after a cannabis house." A mother living next door said: "It was so hot. Our daughter just couldn't sleep in her room because of the heat coming through the walls. "We heard a lot of drilling going on and sometimes we'd see them arrive and they would just slide in the door to stop the smell getting out. I'm relieved it's all over." Another mum, living opposite, said: "It was such a nice day I thought I'd take all my nets down and wash them. Then suddenly all these police arrived. It was scary. "I'm shocked that we had a drugs factory right across the street." Police discovered the factory after a tip-off. Arrests are expected after DNA and fingerprints tests. The cannabis factory was the fifth discovered in Herts police's eastern area this year. Three others were found in Waltham Cross and one in Bishop's Stortford. Last year, a cannabis factory on the Maltings industrial estate in Ware was raided. FACT file * More than 2,500 cannabis factories are currently operating in the London area, according to Hertfordshire police. * Scotland Yard has smashed 300 cannabis factories in London over the past year. * Factories are usually in a three-bedroom house in which a ‘gardener’ will grow 300 plants and produce £70,000 worth of cannabis every 13 weeks, worth about £250,000 a year. * Police can track factories by getting electricity companies to check unusually high power usage, although many growers bypass meters. * Plants are propagated by cloning cuttings from mother plants. Wild plants will flower once a year, but, under intensive conditions, criminals can yield three or four crops per year. http://www.hertsessexnews.co.uk/
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!