Charity staff discover cannabis stash

Police have taken custody of the drugs found at the charity’s Wastesaver centre in Huddersfield, which they say had a street value of several thousands of pounds.

Lorraine Needham-Brinley, production manager at the depot, said: “Staff were suspicious because of a very pungent smell and when they opened this bag they found a big stash of cannabis wrapped in a large bath sheet.

“What was surprising was that it was so fresh it must have been picked off the plant that morning.”

The depot sorts waste clothing donated to all Oxfam shops across the country.

“We have no idea where the cannabis has come from and the police said while it wasn’t the best quality it was still worth thousands,” said Ms Needham-Brinley.

Staff put the haul in her office until police arrived but the smell left her reeling. “It gave me such a bad headache I had to seal it up,” she said.

“The volunteers at the shop who received it probably smelled it and just decided to send it straight on without opening it.”

A police spokesman said the drugs had been seized and destroyed.

The Huddersfield depot sorts around 90 tonnes of clothing a week which is distributed to shops, festivals and overseas markets.

The cannabis haul is not the first time something unexpected has been found among the donations.

One unusual donation was a rotting joint of pork which was deposited in a textile bank with a note which said the meat was left over from Christmas and was for the starving in Africa.

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