Search Everything in One Place

Explore the web, images, videos, news, and more – all in one place.

News

One of county's largest-ever cannabis farm uncovered

The factory was first discovered by a member of the public
The factory was first discovered by a member of the public

Wiltshire Police estimate about 1,500 plants were grown in the disused poultry farm.

Cannabis plants with an estimated street value of £500,000 have been seized after one of the largest-ever drug farms in Wiltshire was uncovered, police say.

Wiltshire Police discovered the haul of roughly 1,500 cultivated plants in a disused poultry unit near Burbage.

Detectives estimate that about £1.5m worth of electricity was drawn from the National Grid to power the site.

Det Sgt Joe Shanklin said: "The sophisticated setup included electricity illegally drawn directly from the National Grid to power hundreds of grow lamps, as well as a full irrigation system."

The plants and machinery seized will be destroyed
The plants and machinery seized will be destroyed

"We have also found signs of a number of people who had been living on site, with bedrooms and cooking facilities within the barn," he added.

"The scale of this operation is significant and appears to have been in place for a substantial period of time."

Officers said that the factory was first discovered by a member of the public on Friday and had been expertly modified into a series of internal rooms housing cannabis plants in varying stages of maturity.

No arrests have been made and the seized plants and equipment will be destroyed.

Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630.

More Wiltshire stories

More on this story

Read full story on BBC

Related News

More stories you might be interested in.

What to know about the Mass. ballot question to repeal legal cannabis
Axios·10 hours ago

What to know about the Mass. ballot question to repeal legal cannabis

Massachusetts voters are being asked to revisit legal cannabis at the ballot box this fall. The big picture: The Bay State has become a key battleground state for opponents of adult-use cannabis who want to outlaw recreational sales nationwide. State of play: The Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, the campaign behind the ballot question, proposes returning to a time when recreational cannabis was decriminalized, not legal. (Medical sales...

Smoking weed and tobacco actually shrink your brain — here are the parts at risk
New York Post·3 months ago

Smoking weed and tobacco actually shrink your brain — here are the parts at risk

Add another downside of lighting up to the list. The risks of smoking are well-documented, from the fact that a single cigarette shortens your life to weed not actually helping anxiety or depression. And while each substance has different neurological effects, new research has found that both marijuana and tobacco physically affect the brain, resulting in shrinkage. It’s long been known that aging is linked to a gradual reduction in brain...

Top