Police seize £300,000 worth of cannabis in raid

CANNABIS worth £300,000 was seized this week from a home which had been “dangerously modified” so the drug could be grown in every room.

Six police officers from two forces raided the house on Peter Street, Thurcroft, on Tuesday morning.

The operation was led by Greater Manchester Police and assisted by South Yorkshire Police officers who raided the home after obtaining a warrant.

In total, 337 cannabis plants worth an estimated £300,000 were seized and an Albanian man in his 30s was arrested at the scene and taken to a Manchester police station for questioning.

Sgt Dave Baines, from Rotherham Central policing team, said the whole of the four-bedroom house had been taken over for use as a cannabis factory.

He said: “The four rooms were absolutely full of plants at various stages of growth, it was a professional set up.”

Unsafe modifications had been made to the house, Sgt Baines said, to make the drug factory bigger, including knocking walls out to create larger rooms and sections were held together by a piece of wood.

The Albanian man was the only man in the property at the time of the raid and was living in a small boxed-off area.

Sgt Baines added that there was no indication at this time the man was being used as a slave, as is sometimes the case with cannabis production.

Rotherham Borough Council officials were also called to the scene after the house was deemed unsafe.