Hi

11 August 2010
Police raided two houses in the same residential street in Northampton, uncovering a cannabis factory and seizing an unlicensed firearm.
In a co-ordinated swoop yesterday, officers raided the two homes, both in Pilton Close, Rectory Farm, within minutes of each other.

In one house, officers discovered a cannabis factory filled with hundreds of mature

plants, arresting a man and a woman on suspicion of cultivating the drug.



Both are thought to be from Vietnam.

Officers smashed in the front door of the end of terrace house shortly after 3pm, after getting no reply when they initially knocked on the front door.

Inside they found four rooms, including all three bedrooms, filled with mature cannabis plants. Officers said many of the plants were ready to be harvested and then sold on the street.

The factory had been illegally hooked up to the electrical mains through the downstairs toilet.

Sergeant Jon Lloyd said: "Whoever did this clearly knew what they were doing and they clearly have someone who will come in and set the factory up.

"This time we have also uncovered laptops and phones so the suspects may just be the 'gardeners' or they may be more involved in the set-up of the whole process."

Just 100 yards down the road, officers swooped on a suspected drug dealer, seizing cannabis hidden in the fridge and a gas-powered pellet gun.

Officers confiscated the weapon after the owner, who did not have a licence for it, voluntarily gave it up.

The afternoon raids, part of the latest Operation Guardian high impact day, followed a series of dawn busts in the south and west of the county.

Five people were arrested after officers carried out drugs warrants at addresses in Daventry, Old Stratford, Towcester and other areas of the county.

A 46-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of drugs offences at an address in Frobisher Close, Daventry.

A 25-year-old woman from Old Stratford and an 18-year-old man from Milton Keynes were also arrested on suspicion of drugs offences at an address in Deanshanger Road, Old Stratford.

In a planned arrest, a 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of theft from a motor vehicle at an address in Southgate Drive, Towcester.

Garage checks were also carried out in Daventry and an ANPR operation held on the A43, between Northampton and Towcester.

Superintendent Pete Windridge, who is leading Operation Guardian, said last week's conviction of 12 prolific burglars from Daventry showed the force was serious about locking up criminals.

He said: "The recent result in court was tremendous and it is important that we get the message out in crime hotspot areas that we will work with the community to bring criminals to book.

Ear

Bongme