Police officers yesterday (Tuesday) raided a four-bedroom detached house in Bradley Stoke’s Juniper Way, following tip-offs from the local community that the property was being used as a cannabis “factory”.
A search led to the recovery of around 450 well-grown cannabis plants, with an estimated street value of £180,000, growing in five rooms of the house.
A 48-year-old man has been arrested for cannabis cultivation and is due to be questioned.
Bradley Stoke Neighbourhood Beat Manager PC Michael Friis said: “This search and arrest is part of the Neighbourhood Team’s ongoing efforts to target drug dealers. We want to disrupt their trade and the crime that so often goes with it. ”
Earlier this month, a Bradley Stoke man was jailed for three years after he admitted possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to supply. A police raid of the man’s property in The Hedgerows had earlier uncovered £3,000 in heroin-contaminated cash.
Crime figures available on the Bradley Stoke Beat page of the Avon and Somerset Police website do not include a specific category for drug offences, but a local PC told the BBC in 2007 that illegal use of drugs in the town is causing concern. “Recently we’ve had a couple of houses that have been used as cannabis factories, which we’ve closed down. ”
Anyone with information about drug crime in Bradley Stoke is encouraged to contact Filton Police Station on 0845 456 7000, or call the independent Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555 111.