Hidden behind the curtains... giant cannabis farm with 700 plants

TO neighbours there wouldn’t have been anything unusual about the property apart from the curtains always being drawn.

But a police raid on the end-of-terrace house in Redhill Park, Hull, yesterday revealed it had been turned into a cannabis farm and some 700 plants – with a street value of 100,000 – were being grown in its four bedrooms and even the loft. The electrics had been tampered with and thousands of pounds worth of damage done.

Police said the landlord thought the tenant was a female student at the University of Hull, but that proved to be false.

It is believed the growers could be from Thailand and, judging from the contents of the fridge and the withered state of some plants, they could have abandoned their farm well before Christmas as the landlord started chasing them up for rent.

“High-quality” growing equipment including high-voltage lights had been left behind.

Police put the growing number of cannabis farms being discovered locally down to better information and awareness.

Sgt Nigel Ling, who said he probably dealt with a large cannabis farm every month, urged prospective landlords to do thorough checks on their tenants. He said: “Don’t accept cash payments. Get some sort of reference and an audit trail as to where they go if they disappear.”