£150,000 of cannabis seized

POLICE discovered a £150,000 cannabis stash in a disused bakery in Primrose Bank.

Officers raided the former Croda Food Services in Falcon Street at 5pm on Thursday and found 15.5 kilos of cannabis bush concealed in vacuum bags.

Thirty one bags were recovered, each containing half a kilo of cannabis, with a potential street value of £150,000.

The plants have now gone for forensic analysis and inquiries are continuing to establish who was behind the operation.

Supt Denise Worth said: “This is yet another massive find for police in Oldham but more importantly for the people who live in this area who time and time again have told us how fed up they are with drug dealing on their doorstep.

“This bakery looks as if it was being used as a storage and distribution centre for a huge amount of cannabis bush and so to have seized such a large amount of drugs means we have effectively stopped this cannabis from getting on to our streets where it can cause untold harm.

“Thanks to the work we are doing with our partner agencies, Greater Manchester Police is making huge inroads into organised criminality in Oldham, disrupting and dismantling the organised crime groups who cause so much hardship for innocent people.

“This is yet one more fantastic result for everyone because what it means, in real terms, is £150,000 that might otherwise have found its way into a criminal’s bank account and a huge stash of drugs that was intended for the streets has been taken out of circulation.

“We know that organised criminal groups involved in cannabis cultivation use residential and business properties to store the drugs, bringing criminality into law-abiding communities.

“That is why closing this drug den is a victory for everyone. We will continue to relentlessly pursue anyone involved in organised crime and would like to thank the community for their help in providing information which is vital to us in our fight against crime.”