Almost 1,000 cannabis plants were inside the former bank
Police carried out a dawn raid on the former bank(Image: Essex Police)
A huge cannabis factory has been found hidden inside a former Barclays bank in an Essex town centre. Police officers forced entry to the former bank on Station Road, Clacton, on Wednesday morning (May 20).
The operation, involving officers from the Clacton Neighbourhood Policing Team and Operational Support Group (OSG), saw the property raided just after 7am. They discovered ten rooms in the town centre building had been converted for drug cultivation with makeshift ventilation and exposed electricity wires.
A man, 22, was arrested at the scene after being found hiding in a loft. He remains in custody for questioning. Police found 960 cannabis plants in the property, all of which have now been seized and will be destroyed.
PC Alan Williams said: “This was clearly a professional operation. The drugs harvested from this grow would have found their way onto the streets and the profits would have helped fund more criminal activity.
“Drug dealing damages communities and is linked to a whole range of other types of offending from anti-social behaviour through to serious violence. As a team, we are tackling organised crime and limiting the ability of these groups to operate in our town.
“If people spot suspicious activity locally, report it and we will investigate. If there are comings and goings from buildings at unusual hours, odd smells, or if windows are blacked out, please tell us because it could be a cannabis grow.”