Off-duty officer sniffs out drugs (From Cotswold Journal)

Off-duty officer sniffs out drugs

5:00pm Thursday 4th October 2012 in News

A CANNABIS farm was raided after an off-duty police officer sniffed out thousands of pounds worth of the illegal drug.

PC Steve Elcocks and Sgt Pete Frankish are pictured with some of the mature plants found last Thursday at Drakes Broughton, near Pershore.

A warrant was executed at a house on Worcester Road (the B4084) and in outhouses officers uncovered about 30 mature plants and others at various stages of growth.

Several of the plants were ready for harvesting and at street value would have yielded several thousands of pounds worth of cannabis.

A man in his 30s and woman in her 20s have been arrested and were taken to Worcester Police Station.

The set-up was uncovered when an off-duty officer riding along the B4084 on his motorbike smelt the strong odour of cannabis as he passed through Drakes Broughton.

Following this, officers launched an investigation and evidence of the operation was uncovered, which led to the warrant.

Sergeant Pete Frankish, who led the operation, said: “We treat the issue of illegal drugs in rural communities as seriously as in our towns and cities.

“We have uncovered a sophisticated cultivation operation with plants of varying ages possibly designed to produce a constant supply; this even included a nursery for seedlings.

“It’s been a successful operation and resulted from excellent initiative and follow up work by some of our officers.”