Inside the Wolverhampton cannabis factory where gardener tried rooftop escape from police
These photos show the scene at a cannabis factory as police raided it earlier this year.
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Meta Alban was jailed at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Tuesday after being found at the site on Reliance trading estate on Livingstone Road, Bilston.
The Express & Star joined police in the swoop on February 21, which resulted in the 33-year-old being arrested after trying to escape via the roof and a 30-minute stand-off with officers as they tried to coax him down.
Photos and video from inside the factory show some of the 681 plants which had a street value of £252,000. The factory was so big officers needed a drone to fly around the premises as their high-tech eyes and ears among the forest of cannabis plants.
Stihl circular saws were used to breach the building's entrances; all the while, screaming for possible inhabitants to "get on the floor!".
On entry to the unit, more than 10 rooms filled with cannabis plants were uncovered.
As the officers moved aside a plastic drape covering a hidden entrance, they were greeted with the first smell of cannabis and the sight of the living quarters that the growers were forced to use.
