POLICE uncovered a major cannabis factory in Chatteris today (Wednesday) morning when they raided a car workshop on the hunt for drugs. They found five first-floor rooms inside Unit 11 on the Honeysome Industrial Estate, on the outskirts of the town, whic

POLICE uncovered a major cannabis factory in Chatteris today (Wednesday) morning when they raided a car workshop on the hunt for drugs.

They found five first-floor rooms inside Unit 11 on the Honeysome Industrial Estate, on the outskirts of the town, which were being used for the production of cannabis.

March sector commander, Inspector Robin Sissons, who led the raid, said: "This is a significant find. It was a cultivation that was going to be expanded and they had the location and the means to make this a significant production unit.

"This will have a major impact on the supply of drugs in the town and further afield.

"In one room we found mature plants ready to be sold, we found two rooms where seedlings are growing, and we found a further two rooms where the equipment has just been installed ready for more plants to be grown.

"And, on the other side of the warehouse, work had started on building more rooms to grow more plants."

The warehouse, the former site of the Renoak business run by former European Champion boxer Dave 'Boy' Green, is currently being used as a car workshop.

A man at the warehouse was arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis, and taken to Wisbech Police Station for questioning.

Police think the car warehouse and the cannabis operation were linked. Insp Sissons said: "They are building all the equipment in the shop because they have all the dimensions and materials they need."

Police also raided a home in New Road, Chatteris, which police say is worth in the region of £260,000, and arrested a 36-year-old man on suspicion of possessing cannabis. They also seized a quantity of cash from the home, which was kept in the bottom of a wardrobe.

Police executed the raids under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Twenty officers, including specialist drugs officers, had met at Chatteris Police Station at 9am for a short briefing before setting out to the house and industrial unit to seize the drugs.

After the raids, police searched the home of the man arrested at the industrial unit by using a police power under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, known as a Section 18 power. It allows officers to enter and search the home of someone who is under arrest if they suspect items that relate to the offence are on the site.

Insp Sissons added: "The parents of the man arrested at New Road also have an industrial unit in Mepal, so we are going to have a look there as well."

Insp Sissons added that the man who was arrested at the New Road home is also being investigated for police in Derbyshire for drugs-related offences.