Cannabis farm found in house

HAUL... A police officer with the cannabis plants and production equipment in the front bedroom

AN unassuming terrace house in Royton has been uncovered as a cannabis farm following a police raid.

Officers discovered up to 100 cannabis plants worth around £40,000 being cultivated in the two bedrooms of the unoccupied property in Oldham Road, close to the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Police also discovered 13 large TVs, 22 computer monitors and 84 telephone handsets downstairs when the Operational Support Unit raided the house yesterday morning.

The electricity had been tampered with and the upstairs converted into a production area with silver foil covering the windows and walls to keep heat in, high-powered lights on a 12-hour timer and a water system and fertiliser in the bathroom.

Det Con Dave Millwood said: “The plants are all at the budding stage so they would have been cropped within the next week. It is not the most advanced set-up, but it is effective.

“We are doing jobs throughout the Christmas period. We don’t stop just because it is the holiday season. We have done a lot of these and it is an ongoing process of looking for them and taking them out.

“This haul demonstrates how drugs and other crimes such as burglary go hand-in-hand.

“The electrical items are not a feature you would normally find at a cannabis farm. Potentially they could be from a break-in or could be bankrupt stock. People may have seen the big TVs being carried into the house.

“I’m appealing for locals to give us information on who this was.”

Cannabis farms have been discovered across the borough, in houses, garages and even a pub.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161-872 5050, or Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111.