Cannabis farm found above Nelson shop

After seizing illegal Golden Virginia tobacco from the shop last Thursday, Trading Standards officers followed a trail of fertiliser bottles and a suspicious smell of drugs and uncovered a cannabis factory upstairs.

Officers discovered that the upstairs lights were not working and the electrics had all been tampered with. The windows were blacked out, with industrial heating and ventilation ducts installed. In two bedrooms they found around fifty pots of growing cannabis plants, with a substantial amount of drying cannabis leaves scattered all over the floors, together with plastic snap-bags commonly used for dealing.

One man ran out of the shop. Another man believed to be the owner was detained on the day and is due to be questioned.

The discovery took place on Thursday 29 November and is part of a series of unusual discoveries made by Trading Standards officers, while carrying out routine inspections and ‘complaint’ visits in East Lancashire.

Lancashire’s chief trading standards officer, Paul Noone, said:

“Trading Standards officers have made a number of discoveries while carrying out routine visits across Lancashire. We’ve had everything from counterfeit and unfit vodka such as Arctic Ice, counterfeit battery-operated toys breaching fire safety standards, realistic fake guns, aerosols and e-cigarettes which breach UK safety laws, and brightly packaged fruit-flavoured chewing tobacco sold in sweet displays.

“Our officers do keep their wits about them and they will never turn a blind eye to criminal activity.”