Police join cannabis farms awareness campaign

POLICE in Dwyfor and Meirionnydd are taking part in an awareness campaign encouraging people to be on the lookout for tell-tale signs of cannabis farms in their area.

A part of the national Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) In Focus week, which runs from 1 to 5 September looking at cannabis cultivation, police forces across the country will be raising awareness of cannabis ‘farms' and the harm it brings to individuals and communities.

Detective Inspector Arwyn Jones from the Operation Scorpion Team said: "Cannabis isn't the harmless drug people often think it is. There is evidence that serious and organised criminal groups are using cannabis cultivation as a means to further their criminal activity, such as trafficking Class A drugs, human trafficking and possession of weapons.

"Sometimes people working in the ‘farms' have been victims of human trafficking who are working there against their will, or vulnerable members of the public intimidated into working for a criminal gang. "The groups that grow it can bring crime, violence and intimidation into local communities.

"So I would urge the public to contact either North Wales Police or Crimestoppers in order to try and keep their communities free from cannabis farms."

Private landlords who rent out residential properties across north Wales are also being urged to check that they are not being used to grow cannabis.

DI Jones added: "Rented homes can be used by tenants to grow the drug, sometimes causing extensive damage to the property and leaving its owner with a huge repair bill.

"The damage they can cause can be shocking, in a short space of time they can tear the furniture out, gut the whole place and have cannabis plants growing in every single room.

"They mess with the power supply, smash walls down to make more space, leave the garden and exterior of the property to degrade and generally make the house unliveable.

"We want landlords to keep an eye out for suspicious behaviour and report it to us before it gets out of hand.

http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/i/42506/ 04/09/2014