Drugs seizure valued at £1m

TWO men have been arrested following Tuesday’s drugs raid at a Shaw industrial estate, now thought to be valued at around £1 million.

Officers swooped to land one of Oldham’s biggest ever drugs seizures only hours after an officer on patrol discovered hundreds of bars of cannabis resin in a garage on the Trent Mill Industrial Estate, Duchess Street, at 1.55am.

Police and forensics were last night still busy at the scene, which police said housed in the region of £1 million worth of drugs.

The two men arrested, aged 25 and 50, were taken into custody yesterday on suspicion of possessing drugs with intent to supply and are helping police with their inquiries.

The Chronicle revealed yesterday how nine-ounce bars of cannabis resin were discovered.

Royton and Shaw police’s Insp Karen Taylor told a district partnership meeting last night: “We have found large quantities of cannabis resin in a container and we have just had the news that the drugs may be worth up to £1million on the streets.

“The find was down to an officer on patrol in a hotspot area.”

Police are appealing to anyone who has information to come forward.

Chief Supt Tim Forber said: “We are still working on the scene and the drugs we recovered will need to be analysed carefully by our specialist forensic officers before we can put a definitive value on it, but it is a significant seizure and of significant value.”

In May, 2010, police seized cannabis plants worth £500,000 from a disused factory in Failsworth and a raid at a Werneth house two months later found cannabis plants, worth a similar amount on the streets.

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