Cozmo
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A SHOPKEEPER has been caught running a cannabis factory at his home.
Stephen Hill, proprietor of the Natural store in Mill Road, Cambridge, is facing jail after setting up a sophisticated cannabisproducing operation at his large, detached house in Swaffham Bulbeck.
When police went into the premises, in Green Bank Road, armed with a search warrant, they found nearly 200 plants in two outbuildings equipped with feeding and lighting systems, city magistrates were told.
Part of the house itself was used as a drying area, where a dehumidifier was found along with plants hanging from washing lines and in boxes.
Hill, 56, was not at home at the time of the raid. He was working at his shop, which, among other things, sells - completely legally - indoor growing equipment, cannabis seeds and books instructing how to grow the drug.
Due to the extent of the find at Green Bank, the police search team called in more officers to take photographs and videos, Yetunde Fawehinmi, for the prosecution, told Cambridge magistrates.
"We are talking about a sophisticated business with equipment and large quantities of cannabis found at this address," Mrs Fawehinmi added.
The plants were at various stages of growth and the crop from some of the more mature - measured later by forensic experts - totalled almost one-and-a-half kilos of the drug.
Scales, tins, cheque books and other bank paperwork were also seized in the raid, which took place in August.
Hill was arrested at his shop later that day and the premises were also searched.
Before the magistrates Hill admitted charges of producing cannabis and possession of the drug with intent to supply.
The magistrates committed him for sentence to the crown court and observed the cannabis production had the hallmarks of a professional operation.
Source: Cambridge Newspapers (uk)
Copyright:2005 Cambridge Newspapers Ltd
Contact:newsdesk@cambridge-news.co.uk
Website:www.cambridge-news.co.uk
Stephen Hill, proprietor of the Natural store in Mill Road, Cambridge, is facing jail after setting up a sophisticated cannabisproducing operation at his large, detached house in Swaffham Bulbeck.
When police went into the premises, in Green Bank Road, armed with a search warrant, they found nearly 200 plants in two outbuildings equipped with feeding and lighting systems, city magistrates were told.
Part of the house itself was used as a drying area, where a dehumidifier was found along with plants hanging from washing lines and in boxes.
Hill, 56, was not at home at the time of the raid. He was working at his shop, which, among other things, sells - completely legally - indoor growing equipment, cannabis seeds and books instructing how to grow the drug.
Due to the extent of the find at Green Bank, the police search team called in more officers to take photographs and videos, Yetunde Fawehinmi, for the prosecution, told Cambridge magistrates.
"We are talking about a sophisticated business with equipment and large quantities of cannabis found at this address," Mrs Fawehinmi added.
The plants were at various stages of growth and the crop from some of the more mature - measured later by forensic experts - totalled almost one-and-a-half kilos of the drug.
Scales, tins, cheque books and other bank paperwork were also seized in the raid, which took place in August.
Hill was arrested at his shop later that day and the premises were also searched.
Before the magistrates Hill admitted charges of producing cannabis and possession of the drug with intent to supply.
The magistrates committed him for sentence to the crown court and observed the cannabis production had the hallmarks of a professional operation.
Source: Cambridge Newspapers (uk)
Copyright:2005 Cambridge Newspapers Ltd
Contact:newsdesk@cambridge-news.co.uk
Website:www.cambridge-news.co.uk
