Cannabis seized from home

A haul of 500 cannabis plants has been seized by police from a home in the Black Country.

Police found the plants when they raided the house in Cradley Heath.

The discovery, believed to be worth around £250,000 on the streets, is the latest in a string of commercial drug growing operations discovered in the region in recent months.

Officers raided the home at around 4pm yesterday afternoon after being alerted by neighbours to suspicious activity at the property in Codsall Road.

One Codsall Road resident, who did want to be named, said the house had been rented out about three weeks ago and there had been "strange goings-on" at the address since.

"We had noticed a lot of strange goings-on, people coming and going at weird hours, peculiar noises and an unusual smell," she said.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis.

West Midlands Police spokesman David Hodgetts said: "Officers from Sandwell police executed a drugs warrant at approximately 4pm at an address in Codsall Road, Cradley Heath. "Officers discovered a cannabis factory with approximately 500 plants inside."

Since the end of last year, around a dozen cannabis factories have been found in Sandwell growing more than £2 million of the illegal drug.

A haul of 2,500 plants worth an estimated £1 million was found on January 2 at a factory in Buttress Way, Smethwick.

Just four days later, more than 1,000 plants worth £500,000 were seized in a unit just a stone's throw away in Bridge Street North, while a warehouse in Sedgley Road East, Tipton, was also found to have 750 plants worth £100,000 on January 4.

A drugs den with more than 300 cannabis plants was found in Moat Road in Oldbury at the end of January, believed to be worth about £150,000 on the streets.