CANNABIS RAID STUNS VILLAGE
350 cannabis plants are found
A VILLAGE has been left in shock after a cannabis factory with hundreds of plants was found in the heart of the community.
Police officers discovered a cannabis factory containing around 350 cannabis plants at a property in Cheddleton on March 16.
Officers uncovered the operation after residents raised concerns about suspicious activity in the area.
Officers with Moorlands Neighbourhood Policing Team found the plants growing in various rooms where the electricity to the residential property had also been bypassed.
The property has since been emptied and made safe.
Pc Mark Garsden, of Moorlands Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “These sorts of incidents are rare in the Staffordshire Moorlands and we are pleased to have shut down this operation.
“These set-ups are often dangerous and therefore making the property safe and stopping these drugs from going out onto the streets is a positive result.
“We would also like to thank the local community for raising their concerns over suspicious activity in the area and would urge them to continue sharing any issues they have to allow us to act on them.”
No arrests have yet been made and police enquiries are ongoing.
Chairman of Cheddleton Parish Council, Councillor Mike Bowen, said the community was very shocked by the incident.
He said: “We are very shocked and horrified.
“At Tuesday night’s parish council meeting, councillors were amazed and horrified that this has had happened in our rural village. This is not a little organisation, it is a big deal.
“We do not want this sort of thing in our village. The parish council would like to thank the community for raising their concerns and also to the police for their quick actions.”
Anyone with any information should message Staffordshire Police on Facebook or Twitter, quoting incident number 0207 of March 16, call 101 or alternatively contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.