FIVE HELD AFTER 'DRUG FARM' RAID

The discovery on a remote farm of a drugs factory producing UKP1 million
worth a week of the amphetamine drug "speed" has shocked residents of a
quiet village.

The factory, one of the largest discovered in Britain and the first capable
of the entire production process from raw material to finished product, was
raided by National Crime Squad officers after months of surveillance.

Yesterday, villagers in Hurst Green, on the Kent-Sussex border where the
late Lord Longford had his home, were trying to come to terms with their
unwanted reputation as a centre for the wholesale production of illegal drugs.

"It is simply unbelievable," said one woman. "Until now, the only notable
thing to happen round here was when they re-surfaced the stretch of the A21
running through the village."

Along an unmade track on the edge of the village, leading down to the River
Rother and the Hastings-London railway line, a 20 foot square corrugated
building had been constructed capable of producing 20 kilogrammes of
amphetamines a week.

The building stood alongside a converted wooden barn which, itself, abutted
a large oast house undergoing conversion to a home.

Jason Wright, 32, a carpenter, was more surprised than anyone by the police
raid on Thursday, which resulted in the arrest of a woman in her 30s and
four men. Mr Wright had been working on the conversion of Bugsell Mill Farm
Oast for the past year.

"I had no idea this was going on right under my nose," he said yesterday.
"There was always a strong whiff of chemicals in the air and a few comings
and goings, but predominantly it was a man, his girlfriend, their kids and
an old man living here. They had bonfires quite regularly.

"I think the chap was divorced and his wife lived in London with his
daughter. I was just helping to fit the place out with wooden floors,
weather panelling and beams for the house. They always seemed quite
friendly and chatty."

Det Chief Insp Jim Warnock of the National Crime Squad, said: "This is a
major find and we believe we have disrupted a major drugs conspiracy.

"The plant was in a dangerous state and, although it is currently safe, we
will be liaising with local authority environmental health officers to
ensure a complete clean-up as soon as possible."An officer at the scene
added: "It was one of the most sophisticated and productive plants we have
ever seen." Tests were being conducted yesterday to see if the nearby river
or local farmland had been contaminated with drug-making chemicals.