Huge drugs farm found in heart of Nottingham city centre
HUNDREDS of cannabis plants were found growing in a cellar in the heart of Nottingham city centre yesterday.
Police raided the farm beneath a building in North Circus Street and discovered 546 plants – thought to be one of the biggest hauls of the drug ever found in the city.
Officers dismantled the cannabis farm during the afternoon as stunned business workers and shoppers looked on. It was found yards from attractions and businesses, including Nottingham Playhouse, and Maid Marian Way.
One man who saw the raid unfold at around 8am said: "The police had a dog with them and the big red door breaker, and they all had head gear on as they went in."
MEAL DEAL
Any Main+ Side with either a dumpling or coleslaw and soft drink for ONLY £5 with this voucher
Terms:
*terms and conditions apply
Please quote website when calling
Contact: 0115 8962290
Valid until: Sunday, May 19 2013
The passer-by, who asked not to be named, added: "I saw them going through the door off the street and then some of them waited outside.''
Cannabis farms have been found in quiet Notts residential streets and rural buildings, but are rare in the city centre.
Sergeant Richard Shaw, of Notts Police, who was involved in the raid, said: "We do find grows in the city centre and urban areas but certainly not normally of this size."
One man living in a flat at Mia House in the street said: "There has been an awful smell and I noticed heat as well. It was only a matter of time before something happened."
The man, who asked not to be named, said: "I've never seen anyone going in and out of there and it's a bit scary."
Police entered the cellar through a door and alleyway off the street and forced their way through a second door. Inside, light and water systems had been set up for the plants in a series of cramped rooms.
David Brown, media officer at Nottingham Playhouse, said: "We're gobsmacked by it. Nothing had ever come up and no one had noticed it."
A police spokesman said two men aged 18 and 25 were arrested on suspicion of producing cannabis during the raid.
On July 5, £16,000 of cannabis was discovered in a caravan at Danes Hill, Lound, near Retford. The day before, more than 100 suspected cannabis plants were found at a property in Hucknall Road, Sherwood.
And in April, a raid on a house in Trent Boulevard, Lady Bay, uncovered around 100 plants worth around £100,000.
Comments
by Stanley_Spoon
Friday, August 17 2012, 2:09PM
“It's usually the smell that gives away the presence of a 'farm', so the city centre is the perfect place to be growing the stuff as you can't walk more than 20 meters without smelling someone having a blaze.”
by PoetPeter
Friday, August 03 2012, 11:51AM
“End the prohibition of cannabis. Get the dealers off the streets.
Permit doctors to prescribe one of the safest and most effective medicines known to science.
Introduce a regulated system of supply through licensed outlets to adults only which the evidence proves will minimise all health and social harms.
Pull the rug from under organised crime.
Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR) published independent, expert research in September 2011 which shows that a tax and regulate policy on cannabis would produce a net gain to the UK economy of up to £9.3 billion per annum.
Cannabis remains prohibited at enormous cost to Britain because of inaccurate and scaremongering press coverage, cowardly politicians and the unlawful monopoly of medicinal cannabis granted to GW Pharmaceuticals.
Go to the CLEAR website for the truth about cannabis.”
by _Simon
Thursday, August 02 2012, 10:07PM
“Doesn't quite tie in with the huge fall in drugs crime we are seeing in Nottingham now does it”
by sime64
Thursday, August 02 2012, 5:27PM
“Good news....Lets hope these raids continue!”
by efigu2egi
Thursday, August 02 2012, 8:23AM
“They ought to try the middle flats above the shops in Clifton.
Always a stench of this (not smoke) around there”