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UK: What the gasman saw: Cannabis farm uncovered at Norwich home
Norwich Evening News Thursday 18 Jul 2013 Officers swooped at the property - and found about 400 cannabis plants with a street value of up to £60,000. During the remarkable raid on Tuesday afternoon, police found the upstairs and attic fitted with a sophisticated heating and lighting system and potted cannabis plants filling every available space. The discovery came the day before police launched a county-wide crackdown on criminal activity, including a raid on garage premises at nearby Denmark Opening. Officers were still at the house yesterday as they waited for the plants to be taken away for forensic analysis and destruction. Sgt Paul Taylor said: “The gas board visited to try to execute a warrant. They couldn’t get in through the front door so they tried the back door. “They then saw the orange lights – and that’s when they called us.” In the bathroom police found bundled dried plants and a water butt, and dozens of bags of soil stacked along one wall of the kitchen. At the back of the living room, a mattress had been thrown on the floor, for the cannabis ‘gardener’ to sleep on. Upstairs, every wall was lined with silver foil to reflect the light and heat from the lamps hanging over the plants, which filled every room and corridor, and heavy-duty black plastic piping had been installed in the attic to remove and disperse the heat. An inspection revealed that the electricity supply had been rigged to bypass the meter and allow access to the huge quantities required to power the heating and lighting system. Sgt Taylor explained plants had been divided into different rooms depending on their maturity, with cuttings grown in propagator trays, before being moved into pots and rotated between rooms as they grew. Under ideal conditions they could yield cannabis worth between £50,000 or £60,000 every eight weeks, he added. “Illegal drug activity can have a detrimental effect on communities and I would like to reassure residents that any information passed to police will be acted on,” said Sgt Taylor, urging people to inform police if they suspected their neighbours were involved in drug activity. “Signs that a property may be being used to grow illegal drugs include a strong smell from the property, a constant buzzing noise indicating the use of fans or heaters, and curtains or blinds that are constantly drawn.” People coming and going at unusual times and windows which were warm to the touch or wet with condensation could also be indicators, he added. A spokesman for British Gas said electricity and gas theft placed lives at risk and added an estimated £500m a year to consumers’ bills. “British Gas has led the industry in devoting resource to energy theft detection. For example, in an average year, 80pc of all gas theft is detected by British Gas,” he said. “We also take direct responsibility for detecting electricity theft – much of which is linked with cannabis farms, and we have a strong track record of working with the police to detect and stop this.” http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/what_the_gasman_saw_cannabis_farm_uncovered_at_norwich_home_1_2283971
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