A cannabis factory is being investigated by police in the Fens after it was found by fire crews attending a blaze in a disused restaurant.
Cambs Fire and Rescue responded to a 4am call on Wednesday to a former restaurant in Norwood Road, March.
It was there, said police, that fire crews uncovered a cannabis factory at the premises.
“There were about 190 plants which will be disposed of,” said a police spokesman.
“The fire service discovered the cannabis. The building has been made safe and boarded up.
“Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101.”
A Cambs Fire spokesman said: “Firefighters arrived to find an electricity metre alight and extinguished it using dry powder and CO2 extinguishers.
“One crew from March and another from Chatteris were called to the fire at around 3.45am. They returned to their stations by 6am.
“The cause of the fire was accidental.”
The police spokesman added on the day: “Officers are currently dismantling the equipment and investigations are on going.”
However a nearby resident posted on Facebook that they were woken at around 5.30am by the noise.
“An ambulance and police van all with blue lights on and at least eight uniformed officers,” he said. “The police van was still there three hours later.”
No value has been put on the cannabis yet but police described it as “a large cannabis factory”.
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