Biggest ever cannabis farm on Merseyside - worth £8m a year - found in derelict Bootle warehouse
A CANNABIS jungle worth up to £8m a year was found by police in a derelict Merseyside warehouse
A CANNABIS jungle worth up to £8m a year was found by police in a derelict Merseyside warehouse
Two floors of the four-storey building on Brasenose Road, Bootle, were covered with plants up to six feet high when officers stormed it yesterday.
On the ground floor they were confronted with shipping containers filled with drugs while on the upper floor, thousands of plants at various stages of growth were uncovered.
It is believed to be the biggest cannabis farm ever to have been busted on Merseyside, eclipsing huge factories found last year in two barns in St Helens - worth around £3m a year - and an Everton lock-up - worth an estimated £5m.
The operation is so vast, police expect to be dismantling it into the weekend.
Supt Paul White, from Matrix who led the raid, said: "Some of the plants are so tall you could easily get lost for a while in there.
"It is an extensive set-up and hydroponics system which we believe took a lot of pre-planning and think had been in operation for some time judging by the waste material we've found and other evidence.
"There were scores of plants which we estimate would have been worth around £2m a yield and the average plant can produce four yields a year.
"It's as big a recovery as we've had on Merseyside.
"We expect to be there for a while bagging it all up and taking the system down to preserve as much evidence as we can.
"The warehouse was not being used for legitimate business as far as we can see.
"Now the hunt is on for whoever was behind it and from what we have already, we have a number of lines of enquiry we are following."
Police said the raid was carried out after "community intelligence".
Supt White added: "The community are our eyes and ears. They know where this type of activity is taking place.
"This particular operation took some planning before yesterday's action, but on some occasions if the public tell us, they will see us act within 24 hours."
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk 16/12/2011
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