Drugs factory under neighbours' noses

Aug 20 2008 Staines News

Cannabis

A cannabis factory busted by police was so well disguised that even near-neighbours had no idea it was operating in a terraced house in their street.

The run-of-the-mill, end-of-terrace home in Wraysbury Road, Staines contained such a sophisticated set-up that police had to call the electricity board to cut off the power as they feared shocks from booby traps or complicated wiring for lights to grow the marijuana.

But from the outside, the rented house blended perfectly into the street scene and suspicions were only raised when a neighbour saw the windows running with condensation.

Thames Valley Police raided the fac-tory on Monday last week and were on the scene with forensic teams and drug units for 12 hours as they removed 'a large number' of cannabis plants from the property.

Jenny Miller, of Vicarage Road, Staines, passes the terraced house every day and said: "I would never have dreamed it was a cannabis factory right on our doorstep. It just looked like any regular house.

"There are a lot of children along there so I'm really surprised. I thought the people who owned it were still living there so I was shocked to see it all boarded up."

The cannabis plants were taken away to be destroyed and a 17-year-old, of no fixed abode, appeared at Maidenhead Youth Court yesterday (Tuesday) charged with the cultivation of cannabis.

Rhonda D'Ambrosio, who lives with her young family in Wraysbury Road, said: "I was completely oblivious to it. When we saw the police we thought somebody had broken in. We had no idea it was drugs."