Cannabis grow inside barn in Bilsthorpe shut down by police

Officers from the Newark and Sherwood Operation Reacher team carried out the warrant following intelligence of drug activity in the area.

Once inside the barn in Mickledale Lane, Bilsthorpe, police discovered 306 cannabis plants growing across five different rooms.

Electricity was also found to have been illegally bypassed to power the large grow, which was uncovered at around 11.05am on Sunday, September 25.

Two men, aged 20 and 24, were arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis and abstracting electricity.

Police Constable Dave Hauton, of the Newark and Sherwood Operation Reacher team, said: “Breaking up cannabis farms like the one discovered here sadly take up far more of our officers’ time than we’d like.

“There is a common misconception that growing cannabis is a victimless crime but this quite frankly couldn’t be further from the truth, due to the risk this offending brings to the surrounding community.

“On the one hand, cannabis cultivation and drug dealing typically targets the most vulnerable people in society, with this activity usually involving people linked to wider criminality too.

“And the methods used to power these types of grows is also incredibly dangerous, with the haphazard modifications often made to wiring providing a very serious and very real fire risk to surrounding properties.

“It’s exactly because we want to stop these types of things from happening that we treat all reports we receive about potential cannabis grows so seriously.

“Our Operation Reacher and neighbourhood policing teams are constantly on the lookout for these criminals and carry out regular warrants to stop offenders in their tracks and close these cannabis farms for good.”

A post on the Sherwood Police: Bilsthorpe, Caunton, Lowdham, Southwell and villages Facebook page said: “We could not think of a better way to spend our Sunday than to arrest two people and dismantle a sophisticated grow comprising of 306 plants.

"Electricity had been bypassed and damage has been caused from its installation at a cost to the owners who had rented out the property in good faith.”

Anyone who has information about drug dealing in their area should call Nottinghamshire Police on 101 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.