10:33am Monday 15th March 2010
By Laura Smith
A BOBBY on the beat sniffed out a cannabis factory in Southend.
PC Dan Morgan immediately recognised the smell from the flat in West Street, leading police to storm the building.
They rammed the door down to find 50 cannabis plants growing under industrial heat lamps in the loft and a bedroom.
No one was inside the property when they raided at 7.30am yesterday, and a team of seven officers carried the plants to a waiting police van.
Sgt Gary Lane, of Leigh neighbourhood policing team, said: “One of the local officers, just patrolling backwards and forwards, smelt cannabis at this address.
“The curtains were always drawn, there was no movement there, and he flagged it up as suspicious. I’m surprised we didn’t get more calls because you can smell cannabis as you walk past.”
The concerns of PC Morgan had been confirmed by the Essex Police helicopter which hovered over the property during one of its swoops over Southend. It picked out the heat from the roof, which appeared to back up the officer’s suspicions.
This had been caused by the huge amount of power used to grow the plants. A large thermometer found in the loft showed a reading of 40 degrees Celsius.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/trade_directory/