Police find high-tech drug farm in secluded Penzance hamlet  

POLICE have uncovered a sophisticated cannabis farm at a house in a quiet rural hamlet outside Penzance that could have reaped criminals £350,000 a year.

CID officers found nearly 300 mature cannabis plants at a four bedroom house in Buryas Bridge that had been rigged with an estimated £20,000 worth of high-tech growing equipment.

The drug factory was discovered by chance when the landlord of the rented property visited to carry out routine maintenance and found the windows blacked out.

When he looked inside he found the entire house, just off the A30 between Penzance and Lands End, had been turned into a cannabis factory.

He immediately informed police who visited the property with a drugs warrant on Thursday.

The landlord, who has asked not to be named, told police the rent had been paid up front and in cash by a man he thought to be Chinese.

Police believe the man who hired the house was a low-ranking "gardener" living in squalid conditions to tend the crop for others further up the criminal ladder.

They say laboratory tests are still needed before they can estimate the worth of the 291 fully grown plants.

But a similar sized haul in the past has been estimated to produce £40,000 worth of cannabis every six weeks - or £346,666 a year.

Detective Constable Alex Pym said: "It was an extremely professional operation including the use of lighting and ventilations systems estimated to cost in excess of £20,000.

"The exact value of the crop cannot be given although it is thought to be in the tens of thousands and of very high quality.

"The tenant had been described by the landlord as a Chinese male who had paid up front for the property and then paid his rent in cash thereafter."

Police are searching for the man but fear he may himself have been a victim of the criminals who planned to profit from the cannabis factory.

DC Pym said: "It is more than likely that he is a victim, forced or pressured into his role as a gardener. There was evidence of him living a very squalid life in the address with only a few belongings and some basic foods.

"We are pursuing forensic evidence to try and locate the gardener but he is going to be low down the criminal tree."

Police in Penzance are asking people to be on the lookout for similar situations.

DC Pym said: "Landlords should check the references thoroughly of any potential tenants and conduct regular checks of their properties.

"They tend to look for properties that are out of the way so that the smell of the crop does not draw suspicion and that have large areas of ground space."

On investigation police found the entire electrical system of the house had been expertly re-wired to circumvent the electrical meter and provide the large amount of power the sophisticated cultivation system required.

DC Pym said: "It is also important that should a member of the public locate a cannabis grow that they are mindful of their own safety.

"In this case someone with some electrical training had by-passed the electricity system and rewired the entire property to accommodate the ventilation and lighting they had installed. This was a very professional set up.

"We had to contact EDF to get an engineer out to make it safe before we could search the building.

"Clearly someone has invested a lot of money into this operation which would have run and run until discovered. We think this one was due its first harvest - but potentially if not discovered it could have just gone on and on even into the winter."

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk 15/07/2013