Cannabis discovery near Mansfield shows exploitation of vulnerable growers

A grow was discovered next to a tiny adjoining room with a makeshift bed made up of a wooden plank resting between two stools.

Officers attended the property in Clipstone Road, Edwinstowe, following reports the Class B drugs were being grown inside.

This intelligence turned out to be accurate, with the Newark and Sherwood Operation Reacher team finding rows of potted cannabis plants.

More than 40 mature plants were discovered growing inside on Monday (17 April), while the electricity was found to have been bypassed too.

Rat traps were also spotted in the small and dirty area where the person tending the grow was sleeping and living.

All the cannabis was seized from the address and destroyed, while the equipment used to power the grow was also removed.

PC Al Johnson, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Newark and Sherwood Operation Reacher team, said: “After receiving intelligence that drug activity was taking place inside this address, we went in and sure enough found and dismantled a cannabis grow.

“This discovery was a good example of the other side of growing cannabis – namely the appalling conditions people tending these plants are expected to live in.

“Sadly, these types of operations often involve extremely vulnerable people being exploited, with others benefiting financially from their efforts.

“That’s why we take reports of cannabis production so seriously, because of the detrimental impact it can have to people, as well as the wider community.

“Cannabis production is not a victimless crime – it attracts nothing but trouble, usually has links to wider criminality, and poses a dangerous fire risk too, due to electricity being bypassed.

“We obviously don’t want this to happen, so we’d always ask anyone to report incidents of this nature to the police by calling 101.”

The Newark and Sherwood Operation Reacher team can also be contacted directly by emailing: OpReacher-N&[email protected]