Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
House raid
Police seize cannabis plants worth £70,000 in quiet street
A cannabis factory has been discovered in a quiet road just outside the city.
Police swooped on a house in Lanfranc Gardens in Harbledown early on Sunday morning and found drugs with a value of £70,000.
Stunned neighbours watched as 121 plants and 50 seedlings were pulled from the semidetached home.
Anne Holmes, who has lived in the street for 40 years, says she had not noticed anything suspicious before.
She said “I didn’t think anything of it until I saw about eight police officers and a big van turn up at the weekend. Then on Monday I saw the police taking out plant pots. I didn’t see the people who lived there that often. It was quite rare to see them, but I saw them mowing the lawn on Saturday morning.
“It’s a lovely friendly road as everyone talks to each other, but they were the odd ones out.”
Offices carried out a search warrant at 8am on Sunday,finding extensive cultivation equipment alongside the cannabis plants.
Forensic examinations were carried out before the factory was dismantled, but no arrests have yet been made.
PC Chris Birmingham said: “Investigations are now ongoing to establish who was running the cannabis factory and we urge anyone who has seen people or vehicles coming and going from the house to contact us. We urge people worried about drugs in their neighbourhood to tell us so we can take action.”
Anyone with information about the cannabis factory in Lanfranc Gardens should call police on 01843 222289, quoting reference number 12-0332. People with information about illegal drug use and supply should call police on 101.