The craziest places where police found weed in 2025
As in every year, so too in 2025, some growers decidedly went to extreme lengths to stay off the radar. From subterranean bunkers guarded by exotic animals to high-traffic motorway drainage systems, police raids uncovered some of the most bizarre and sophisticated grow operations in history. Here is a look at the craziest places police found cannabis throughout 2025.
1. The M1 Motorway drainage tunnel (Watford, UK)
In one of the most unusual discoveries of the year, maintenance workers from National Highways stumbled upon a “sophisticated” cannabis farm growing directly under the M1 motorway. More than 240 plants were found inside a drainage culvert (a pipe designed to move water across the road) near the village of Watford in Northamptonshire.
The setup featured extensive shelving to keep plants above water and power diverted from the local grid for lighting and ventilation. Police noted the extreme difficulty in dismantling the site due to heavy rain and the fact that the nearest road access was over a mile away.
2. The “llama bunker” of Lincolnshire (Skendleby, UK)
In November 2025, a massive underground operation was dismantled in Skendleby, Lincolnshire, revealing a scene straight out of a movie. Hidden beneath trapdoors in barns, police discovered 12 buried shipping containers converted into a high-tech cannabis factory worth an estimated £580,000.
Adding to the absurdity, the raid also uncovered 300 tones of illegal waste, stolen cars, and a live llama roaming the property. The operation was so well-concealed that it required specialist support and intelligence from international authorities to uncover.
3. Sequoia National Park’s “forest farm” (California, USA)
Deep within the protected wilderness of California’s Sequoia National Park, federal agents removed a sprawling illegal grow site that had been damaging the ecosystem for years. In the summer, crews airlifted 2,377 full-grown plants and nearly a ton of trash from a 13-acre site hidden in the parkland.
The raid uncovered not only the massive crop but also a handgun and dangerous, banned insecticides (Methamidophos) that were leaching into local water supplies. The National Park Service had to use helicopters to remove the infrastructure due to the remote and rugged terrain.
4. The abandoned casino grow site (Northampton, UK)
One of the most talked-about cases of 2025 involved an abandoned casino complex in Northampton that had been transformed into a high-tech, climate-controlled grow facility. The farm was accommodated across four floors in an old Aspers casino building, and it contained almost 8,000 cannabis plants with a street value of more than $3 million, according to the BBC.
Investigators noted that the setup was highly professional, featuring industrial lighting, irrigation systems, and significant power bypasses to avoid detection. Authorities believe the operation was part of a wider organized crime network supplying cannabis across multiple regions in the UK.
5. The Oklahoma mega-grow sting (Mayes & Craig Counties, USA)
In June 2025, an Organized Crime Task Force in Oklahoma executed one of the largest single-state busts of the year. The operation targeted multiple clandestine facilities, resulting in the seizure of 40,723 marijuana plants and over 1,000 pounds of processed cannabis. Investigators were tipped off by suspicious vehicles with out-of-state plates hauling untagged products, leading to a massive crackdown on what authorities described as a multi-million dollar industrial trafficking ring.
6. The warehouse behind the secret door (Alicante, Spain)
One of Spain’s most intriguing cannabis raids in 2025 involved the dismantling of a highly sophisticated indoor operation in Alicante province. Authorities uncovered two warehouses housing around 2,400 marijuana plants. The grow was concealed behind a secret entrance hidden by a metal cabinet, underscoring once again the elaborate measures used to evade detection.
As 2025 proved, there are few places left that growers won’t consider fair game. From city centers to the countryside, police say cannabis operations are increasingly popping up in unexpected—and often cinematic—locations, blurring the line between real life and scripted crime dramas. As one UK officer noted, the recent wave of discoveries feels eerily familiar to storylines popularized on TV, where underground empires thrive beneath ordinary façades. The takeaway is clear: when it comes to illicit grows, nowhere is too grand, too rural, or too unlikely to be hiding a full-scale cannabis operation.
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Editorial Disclaimer: Soft Secrets provides this information for educational and journalistic purposes only. We do not condone illegal cultivation or activities that endanger public safety or the environment. Always follow the local laws of your jurisdiction regarding cannabis possession and cultivation.
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Stephen Andrews
