Large cannabis farm found in house on a residential Hartlepool Street

Officers from Cleveland Police found the electricity inside the property in St Paul’s Road in Hartlepool and found the plants spread out across three floors.

The Hartlepool Neighbourhood Policing Team said it also found that electricity was bypassed with dangerous wiring on the upper floors as they carried out the search yesterday, which “posed a fire risk to families living next door to the address.”

The team also warned such activities fuel organised crime and lead to the trafficking of the vulnerable.

The plants were found in various stages of growth, with a full drying room set up to process the fully-grown plants.

Sergeant Sergeant Ian Raine, from the Hartlepool Neighbourhood Team, said: "We once again acted on Community intelligence, backed up by information provided by our ward-based Police Community Support Officers.

“This type of operation puts our communities at risk, we will always act on any information provided.

“These cannabis farms are linked to organised crime and also to the trafficking of vulnerable people.

“I urge any person with information to contact Cleveland Police on 101, or alternatively on Crimestoppers on 0800555111"

The discovery of the grow follows on from another, also over three floors and containing hundreds of plants, in nearby Sheriff Street last month, where the power supply had been bypassed and wiring left in a dangerous state.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you