South Yorkshire Police recently revealed the scale of the cannabis production problem in Sheffield when one neighbourhood policing team said its officers alone has seized plants worth £5 million so far this year.
Earlier this year, South Yorkshire Police issued a warning about organised crime gangs setting up cannabis factories in Sheffield streets and bringing violence, guns and knives into city neighbourhoods.
The force said cannabis farms and the dangers associated with them are a ‘real problem’ in Sheffield, with lives put at risk on the city’s streets.
The force said crude property modifications, including electricity tampering, puts innocent members of the public living near to drugs dens at risk of fires and explosions.
But gangs raiding cannabis farms or using violence to issue warnings to rivals are also said to pose a real risk to residents, who could be caught in the crossfire.
Anyone with information on those involved should call South Yorkshire Police on 101.
Here are some of the biggest cannabis farms raided by police in Sheffield.
9. Hillsborough
Police seized around £200,000 worth of cannabis after its smell was picked up by a factory’s air conditioning system in Sheffield in August this year. Officers were called out after concerns were raised about the aroma which had started to be noticed in the building in Hillsborough by the people working there. Police told how they checked the rood near the air conditioning and worked out where the smells were coming from before speaking to a number of residents on Bradfield Road. Officers then entered two separate properties, both of which they described as having been ‘extensively modified’ for cannabis production. Photo: South Yorkshire Police