Appeal to public as £50,000 cannabis seized in Torbay raids
FIVE cannabis drugs factories have been raided in eight days as Torbay police seized plants worth almost £50,000.
The drugs store at Torquay police station is full to capacity, with kilo sacks of high-quality cannabis plants.
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HAUL: PCs Lee Collings, left, and Nick Healey in the drugs store at Torquay police station Torquil MacLeod
Now police say there has been an increase in the number of small-scale drugs factories in flats and bedrooms across the Bay.
And they are appealing to the public to help stamp out the marijuana farmers who they say can be helping to fund more serious crime organisations.
Operation Fundamental drugs officers want to hear from neighbours who become suspicious about the tell-tale signs of cannabis farming.
How the recession is leading to more people growing drugs.
Grower caught after address left with dumped plants.
The drugs liaison officer for South and West Devon, PC Jamie Nicholson said: "We have been very busy and very successful in the last week or so.
"We had three in one day in Paignton last week.
"We have had some very high yield operations and I would imagine they will have a significant impact on what's out there on the streets at the moment."
In the largest raid in Chelston, 16 plants were growing and another 26 had already been harvested, with a potential street value of more than £21,000.
Drugs and scenes of crime officers removed the plants and cropped drugs, together with growing equipment, from the housing association flat for the disabled in Queensway.
Another £22,000 of cannabis was seized in one day from three separate properties in Torquay and Paignton.
All were the result of reports of a 'strong smell' of the drug from members of the public and a PCSO.
At St Edmunds Road in Plainmoor, police found a quantity of the drug which had just been harvested with a street value of £7,500. They had received information from a member of the public about a smell of cannabis and response officers raided the house at 8.15am on Wednesday, January 11.
Shortly after at 8.30am on the same day a PCSO on foot patrol in Well Street, Paignton, also reported the distinctive smell. Other officers attended and identified the address where cannabis with a street value of £10,000 was seized while drying out.
At 4pm officers from Paignton local policing and neighbourhood team made inquiries in the Church Street area of the town. They were acting on various calls made over a few days from members of the public about the strong smell of cannabis in the street.
Police say inside they found a full cultivation set-up with 13 plants with an estimated value of £5,200.
In Hillview Terrace, off Lymington Road, Torquay, plants worth £3,500 were seized.
Two men were arrested. One was cautioned in relation to the theft of metal and a second occupant in his late 20s has been bailed pending the analysis of seized plants.
Another five men and one woman have been arrested and bailed pending further inquiries in relation to the other seizures.
A 53-year-old man was arrested and charged with the production of cannabis in relation to the Plainmoor raid.
He was bailed to appear at South Devon Magistrates' Court in Torquay on January 26.
9 Comments
by geofftq
Thursday, January 19 2012, 7:57PM
“What sort of appeal... are they trying to sell it?”
by ChrisBovey
Thursday, January 19 2012, 7:18PM
“I expect sales of carbon filter fans or ozone generators, which completely negate the smell, will be rocketing in the Torbay area.”
by Dragon83uk
Thursday, January 19 2012, 7:13PM
“This was simply hilarious. Torbay Police's drug stores may be full but I bet none of the locals are having too much trouble getting hold of a smoke this week! Even if they are this has been a brilliant advert for a demand that's not being supplied. Which will definitely be noticed by those from the neighbouring areas with the ability to cash in. The simple fact is that prohibition doesn't work. As with alcohol in 1920's America, all it does is bring organised crime and fuel the further degradation of the lowest pegs of our society. Regardless of whether or not cannabis is dangerous (it isn't, if you disagree google the possible side-effects of Sativex) the current laws do nothing but cause more problems. They bleed money at an alarming rate whilst funding all possible revenue to drug barons and organised gangsters.
Finally though the the most disastrous part in this story is the whole "strong smell" thing. This advice is just going to lead to more small time busts of individual growers growing for personal consumption or, more likely, just the average Joe sat around quietly smoking in his own home. Even when they do bust a major grow, it's not going to make the slightest difference. As it stands organised criminals are not the people going to prison for growing cannabis. It's much more often the littlest fish that get caught or as is increasingly becoming the case, Vietnamese refugees who are essentially bonded into slavery.
The madness needs to end now. Stop prohibition for the sake of our collective futures.”
by ChrisBovey
Thursday, January 19 2012, 7:12PM
“What a disgusting waste of local police resources. All for a plant that is scientifically proven to be safer than both legal alcohol and tobacco.
Figures recently published by Independent Drug Monitoring Unit show the tax-payer would save in the region of £6,7 billion if cannabis were taxed and regulated.
Certainly they will never stop people smoking cannabis, especially in places like Torquay which is full of pot smokers; I even smelled it on Union Street the other day when I was shopping. The government just has to decide if it wishes criminal gangs to continue to control this multibillion pound market, or bring it into line with some kind of tax and regulation, as is the case with alcohol and tobacco.”
by whothefizit
Thursday, January 19 2012, 6:53PM
“@saintsinner, probably because our political system is corrupt and in the pockets of banks and multi national companies”
by saintsinner
Thursday, January 19 2012, 6:42PM
“so why does the government not provide a licence to any one else other than GW pharmacy to grow cannabis ? what are the regulations that allow them to grow for profit? and force everyone else to break the law?”
by whothefizit
Thursday, January 19 2012, 6:35PM
“If they have run out of storage space I would be willing to look after some”
by Carman247
Thursday, January 19 2012, 5:53PM
“What a massive waste of Police time and Government spending. Let alone the sheer injustice of it.
Every human should have the right to consume whatever substance they wish to. Whether it's absolute poison or the most nutritional substance known to man.
Cannabis is a relatively safe substance compared to Alcohol and Tobacco and is still prohibited for the most unsubstantial of reasons. (Mainly so GW Pharmaceuticals can have the monopoly on medicine made from Cannabis extracts)
http://tinyurl.com/bmurb4n
http://tinyurl.com/6rbacms
Stop this madness now.”
by vicus
Thursday, January 19 2012, 5:42PM
“Companies like GW Pharmaceuticals are legally allowed to grow large amounts of cannabis in the UK every day. They are even proscribing Sativex to MS sufferers now so how can the government continue to say that cannabis is harmful while allowing it to be proscribed to people?
Cannabis is not harmful. The crime caused by the law against cultivation is harmful to many, many people. The government no longer have a leg to stand on now as it has become as clear as day that their reasons for keeping the cultivation of cannabis illegal is SOLELY based on financial gain.”