DRUGS MENACE ON OUR DOORSTEPS

VIOLENT, organised criminal gangs are behind a surge in cannabis
factories which are netting cultivators hundreds of thousands of
pounds each year.

In 2004/05, police seized 734 cannabis plants in the county but
already during the 2008/09 period, a staggering 4,000 plants have been
confiscated.

The figures, made public following a Freedom of Information request by
The Evening Star, come as two more people this week faced magistrates
for setting up a 1,000 plant factory in a five bedroom bungalow in
Ipswich which could have netted them up to UKP1million. And on Thursday
a house in Lister Road, Ipswich was busted, which police believe could
have generated up to UKP3million. A man is currently being held in
custody in connection with the latest raid.

Suffolk police are now so concerned about the rise in gangs that they
are placing adverts warning landlords that their properties could be
at risk from drugs gangs.

And leading Ipswich drugs charity the Iceni Project revealed it could
no longer assist those affected by cannabis dependency - despite
reporting an escalation in the numbers appealing for help.

Suffolk police detective inspector Jim Keeble said organised gangs saw
the production of cannabis as an easy means of making money.

He revealed that a two or three-bed semi-detached sub-urban house
could be transformed into a factory for around UKP20,000 with easily
bought items, netting cultivators around UKP250,000 a year.

Mr Keeble said: "Cannabis is relatively easy to grow and the risks
associated with producing it are much less compared with bringing it
into the country by car or ferry.

"It's certainly less risky than dealing Class A drugs."

A number of those prosecuted for running cannabis factories in Suffolk
have been of Vietnamese or Chinese origin.

Mr Keeble said: "It's an organised system. The people we tend to
arrest for running cannabis factories, the gardeners, are usually
people who are trying to pay off a debt, perhaps for gaining entry
into the country.

"They often come from a culture where the use of extreme violence as a
means of enforcement is acceptable."

Ten years ago only 11 per cent of cannabis sold in the UK was grown
here, a figure that has now exceeded 60pc.

Mr Keeble said: "The public perception is that cannabis is safe and
it's semi-ok to take it. But this is not a sweet and innocent drug and
the government has accepted that by returning it to Class B."

Should laws on cannabis cultivation be toughened up? Write to Your
Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or
e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

If you suspect that a premises is a cannabis factory, please contact
police on 01473 613500. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers on 0800
555 111.

DID YOU KNOW?

Police and health experts say cannabis produced in factories, known as
skunk, is around four times stronger than the normal form of the drug
and is linked to psychosis, depression and anxiety.

Skunk contains far higher quantities of the chemical THC than herbal
or resin-based cannabis.

LEADING Ipswich drugs charity The Iceni Project today spoke of its
concerns that those suffering with cannabis dependencies have nowhere
to turn.

The project's Patrick Palmer said until a funding change three months
ago, Iceni had been inundated with people from Ipswich seeking help
for cannabis-related problems.

However, after a funding review, Iceni is now only allowed to help
those with Class A drug addictions.

Mr Palmer said: "Up until three months ago, we were becoming extremely
concerned about the increases in the number of people with cannabis
dependency.

"At that stage, the number of calls from cannabis users out-numbered
those from Class A drug users.

"But there has been a review of our funding, which is now completely
ring-fenced for Class A drug users so we can no longer offer a service
to those with cannabis problems.

"Those with a cannabis dependency now have nowhere to go. We are
constantly turning people away."

Mr Palmer said he believed the government funding requirements changed
because of the links between hard drugs and associated crime.

How to identify a cannabis factory:

The windows of the property are permanently covered from the
inside

Visits to the property occur at unusual times of the day or
night

People often do not live in the premises and only visit to maintain
them

There may be a vent protruding through the roof or a rear
window

There may be a pungent smell coming from the premises

There may be noise coming from the equipment, such as cooling
fans

A large amount of pots and lights may be moved into the premises when
the factory is set up

In terraced houses, shared walls may appear wet to the
touch

Large amounts of soil and pots in back gardens

Recent cannabis busts in Ipswich:

October: Drug squad detectives swoop on a house in Nacton Road
following a tip off from a member of the public. A cannabis factory
worth thousands of pounds is uncovered.

Nobody was in the house but plant pots and hydroponic growing
equipment were found in four rooms while baby cannabis plants had been
left behind in a downstairs room.

August: Around 300 cannabis plants were found by police during a raid
on a house in Roebeck Road Ipswich.

May: An illegal immigrant who helped operate a sophisticated cannabis
factory in a house in Ipswich's Beatty Road was jailed for 28 months.

Vui Nguyen, 29 admitted to being involved in the production of
cannabis after police executed a search warrant at the three-bedroom
former council house and discovered 304 mature cannabis plants which
would have yielded 87.5kgs of skunk with a street value of up to UKP500,000.

A 1,000-plant cannabis factory which could have netted cultivators
more than a million pounds was set up to pay back debts to drug
dealers a court heard.

Officers raided a five-bed bungalow in Ipswich on Wednesday where they
discovered the staggering hoard.

Stephen Kingwell, 51, and Carl Allcock, 39, who were arrested at the
Felixstowe Road property, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and
illegally abstracting electricity when they appeared at South East
Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Thursday, 24 hours after their arrest.

Both were warned to expect significant custodial sentences when they
receive their punishment at crown court later this month.

Magistrates heard how a police warrant had been executed at the
bungalow, which was being rented by dad-of-eight Allcock and his family.

The court was told how Allcock had racked up cocaine debts of UKP45,000
while living in Salford in Lancashire and had been forced to turn to
cannabis production to clear the arrears.

His solicitor John Hughes said, Allcock whose youngest child is three
weeks old had been forced to move to Suffolk to escape the violence
associated with his debt.

When officers entered the property, they found 600 baby plants in one
room and 400 more mature plants in another

Police estimate that had the plants been allowed to grow to maturity,
they could have been worth UKP1,120,000.

Allcock, who has lived at the bungalow since August 2008, and
Kingwell, also of Felixstowe Road, were described as the "men with the
watering can".

Mr Hughes added: "He (Allcock) was acting under duress with third
parties putting pressure on him.

"A large amount of drugs have been lost and this has not helped his
debt problem. Clearly there are going to be people higher up in the
chain who are not going to be happy."

Kingwell, who was unrepresented, did not address the court.