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Man arrested as police seize 211 cannabis plants

George KingEssex
News imageEssex Police A large room filled with a horde of about 25 cannabis plants. The plant pots are sitting on white sheets. The room is well lit.Essex Police
Essex Police said the back room of the property had been converted to facilitate the growing of cannabis

A man was arrested after police officers forced entry to a house and seized more than 200 cannabis plants.

Essex Police executed a warrant at a home in Eastwood, in Southend-on-Sea, at about 07:45 GMT on Thursday.

The force's Proactive Problem Solving Team discovered 211 mature plants in the back room, which was also filled with artificial light, fans and heaters.

Officers arrested a man at the scene on suspicion of the production of a Class B drug and abstraction of electricity, before taking away the plants to destroy them.

News imageEssex Police Two police officers, whose faces are obscured by their helmets and because they are looking away from the camera, arresting a man in the hallway of a house. The man's face is blurred but he is wearing a white T-shirt with a jacket over the top.Essex Police
The man was arrested at what the police described as being a "normal suburban house"

Sgt Alex Farr, who led the operation, said: "From the outside, this looked like a normal suburban house, but inside it was a very different story.

"It had been dangerously rewired and there are clear indications that this was the work of an organised criminal gang whose intention was to produce cannabis for the illegal market.

"My team are relentlessly pursuing these gangs as their profits fund more criminal activity.

"By shutting them down we are making the streets safer."

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