£500,000 worth of cannabis plants seized in Newcastle
Around £500,000 worth of cannabis plants have been seized by police during a raid in Newcastle.
A team of officers executed a search warrant at an industrial unit off Condercum Road in Benwell at 4:26pm on Thursday, July 7.
Once inside they found a large scale professional cannabis farm being ran from the premises.
The farm was so large in size that it stretched the entire distance of three of the industrial units.
A full search was carried out of the building and around 1,000 plants were seized by officers. Thousands of pounds worth of lighting and growing equipment were also removed from the premises.
The plants will all now be destroyed and enquiries are ongoing to identify and arrest those behind the farm.
Central Area Command Superintendent Steve Ammari said: "Around half a million pounds worth of cannabis is now off the streets of the North East and a large scale, highly organised and sophisticated cannabis farm has now been shut down, all thanks to the work of our officers.
"The farm was so large in size that it filled three of the industrial units on the site and it required four full skips to remove all of the drugs. Due to the way the farm had been set up it was incredibly dangerous inside and could have easily caused a fire, and on an industrial site with other businesses and residents nearby this could have potentially put a lot of people at risk.
"The plants that we have seized and destroyed would have had a street value of around £500,000, that's a very very significant amount that will now, thanks to our actions, not fall into the hands of criminals. "A full enquiry is now ongoing and we will do everything we can to locate and arrest the people behind this large scale, highly sophisticated, cannabis factory and make sure they face action. "It's not just the production of the illegal drugs that is the issue, it is the damage they do to communities and peoples' lives. This is an issue that we take extremely seriously and we will not stand-by and allow this to happen."