Police issue warning about 'organised Albanian criminal group' operating in Sheffield

The warning follows an arrest on Tuesday, after a man attempted to escape out of a window of a house on Dixon Road, Hillsborough, when he saw police out delivering leaflets.

When this escape attempt failed he attempted to sprint past police and out of the door. This also failed and he was arrested.

Inside the house police found a set-up of 70 cannabis plants worth £70,000. The man was charged with cannabis production and remanded into custody.

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A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said: “Our unsuccessful sprinter was later revealed to be wanted in the London area for exactly the same thing.

“We can’t help but notice that many of the people we’ve found inside cannabis grows recently are of Albanian origin.

“Sometimes people question why we would refer to someone’s background like this.

"The reason is that there appears to be a group of organised criminals originating from the West Balkans who are responsible for many of the cannabis factories that we are finding, and they are putting people’s lives in danger by bypassing the meter and getting their electricity directly from the grid.

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“If you happen to see any workmen digging in to the ground in front of an address, and they aren’t in full YEDL uniforms and don’t appear to have the right marked van or barriers it is worth giving us a call, it could well be someone abstracting electricity from the grid to power their drug factory.”