ROOTING OUT CANNABIS FARMERS

Cannabis Factories Are Being Targeted In A Major Crackdown On
Organised Crime In Cambridgeshire.

Detectives from the force's Serious and Organised Crime Squad are
launching a two-week blitz against cannabis producers in the county,
which will coincide with similar operations by other forces across the country.

Det Chief Insp Paul Fullwood, who is leading the crackdown, said the
push would consolidate the work already done to battle drug
production in Cambridgeshire.

Operation Holywell, which has been up and running for two months, has
already seen 14 raids, 10 people arrested, and 170kg of cannabis
resin with a street value of UKP435,000 seized in the county.

He said: "We are ahead of the game in Cambridgeshire because we have
been targeting organised crime groups involved in this sort of
activity for some time.

"We are talking about large-scale cannabis factories, often on quiet
residential streets in the suburbs of cities including Cambridge
which are being rented out and the entire properties used for the
production of cannabis.

"These people use extremely sophisticated heat and lighting equipment
and often drill into the mains electricity to power it, which is very
dangerous in terms of a fire risk.

"They then bring in low-level people to look after the crop, but we
know there are vast profits being made by the organised gangs.

"A typical factory might have 200 plants which are harvested four
times a year, with every harvest bringing in around UKP30,000 - so
the criminal profits generated from one house alone are around
UKP120,000 a year.

"We also know these gangs are involved in other crime, such as people
trafficking, money laundering, even murder and other violent crime,
so it is very important they are not allowed to get away with it.

"Our message is we're not targeting people who use cannabis, but we
are targeting those at the top and we will not tolerate what these
gangs are doing."

Det Chief Insp Fullwood also warned cannabis users about the potency
of the drugs.

He said: "The cannabis has extremely high levels of THC, which is the
hallucinogenic content, sometimes as much as six times what has
traditionally been found in cannabis. This stuff is not good for you."