Cops discover £12,000 cannabis grow hidden behind fitted wardrobe

Police officers working as part of Operation Duxford raided a house on Gilberthorpe Street, Herringthorpe, at about 1pm today (Tuesday).

Fifteen houses across Rotherham are being searched for drugs and stolen goods as part of a day of action by South Yorkshire Police.

Officers discovered the cannabis farm hidden in the loft of an unassuming two-storey house on Gilberthorpe Street.

Its entrance was concealed by a fitted wardrobe and a false wall in an upstairs bedroom and it was accessible only by a collapsible ladder which led to the roof space.

Several cannabis plants had already been harvested from a growing space equipped with heat lamps and concealed in a reflective tent.

Meanwhile, hundreds of buds of cannabis were being dried out on racks in what officers described as a ‘sophisticated’ set-up.

A 50-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply in connection with the raid.

Officers discovered about £3,000-worth of cannabis elsewhere in the house.

PC Paul Jameson said: “I have been doing this for 13 years and this is one of the best I have seen in terms of concealment.

“These plants are grown on a three to four-month cycle so you could get three or four cycles a year from this.

“It’s certainly well-planned and sophisticated in its concealment.

“Police resources are limited but we are not going to stop looking for these places and we do act on information we receive from the community.”

PC Jameson said the man had bypassed the electricity supply to power the cannabis farm.

Earlier, police officers seized 96 bags of cannabis with a street value of around £480 from house on Selwyn Street, Eastwood.