SUSPECT WHIFF FROM FLOWER BORDER BRINGS POLICE AND GANG RAIDS

An elderly couple who bought a pink-flowering perennial to brighten up
their garden found their home and street targeted by the police and a
gang of armed drug users after the innocent-looking plant began to
give off a scent similar to cannabis. Ivor and Margaret Wiltshire, 77
and 79, bought a pot of moss phlox from a garden centre and were
delighted when the plant began to spread vigorously through their
front and back gardens.

But it also began to give off a curious aroma, which came to the
attention of Avon and Somerset police. The force helicopter was used
to try to find the suspected cannabis factory but infra-red cameras,
used to trace heat sources associated with drug factories, detected
nothing.

Still, after the Wiltshires went on holiday last month, officers
swooped on their suburban house near Bristol. Mr Wiltshire said: "When
we got home they had smashed in the front door and the porch door and
the loft was left open. They knew everything about us but they still
went ahead. A couple of pensioners hiding a cannabis factory - you
couldn't make it up." The source of the aroma was finally sniffed out
by a police officer who crawled around the garden on her hands and
knees. Mr Wiltshire said he had been told by neighbours about the
scent but because of an operation he could not smell it. "My wife
doesn't know what cannabis smells like."

The couple have now ripped the plant out, which is good news for
next-door neighbour David Difford.

A week before the police raid a knife-wielding gang wearing Halloween
masks broke into his house, believing he had cannabis hidden away. "I
looked out the window and saw this gang wearing masks, with a ladder
against the house, smashing the windows," he said. "They were shouting
'Give us the weed, man, we know you've got the grass.' We haven't been
able to sleep properly since."

Avon and Somerset police said they have offered compensation to the
Wiltshires and have apologised.