Huge two-storey cannabis factory found on Corby industrial estate

A police raid in Corby this morning has unearthed a ‘major’ cannabis factory on the town’s Earlstrees Industrial Estate.
Inside one of the rooms used for growing cannabis.Inside one of the rooms used for growing cannabis.
Inside one of the rooms used for growing cannabis.

Officers from Northamptonshire Police’s Kettering Proactive Team burst into the premises in Edison Courtyard off Brunel Road today (Thursday, March 21) to find around 1,500 cannabis plants in differing stages of growth.

It is thought that the factory, which had five rooms, had been in operation for up to four months.

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One Albanian man in his twenties has been arrested and taken into custody.

Inside one of the rooms used for growing cannabis.Inside one of the rooms used for growing cannabis.
Inside one of the rooms used for growing cannabis.

Officers were acting on a tip-off passed to the Force Intelligence Bureau, which had to apply to a magistrate for a warrant to enter the building.

PC Colin Gray said: “We executed a warrant at about 9.50am and we found a male in a makeshift bedroom who we took into custody.

”The plants were at all stages of growth - from the bulbs that they initially buy through to seedlings, a nursery and then adult plants that can be harvested.

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”This is a major setup. All the timber structure has been built in here especially for their operation. They even have a ladder to their upstairs rooms.

The unit in Edison courtyardThe unit in Edison courtyard
The unit in Edison courtyard

“It’s quite clearly been here for some time.

”People may not think that cannabis is a big problem but the people running this factory will be making thousands of pounds that could be used for class A drugs, for people trafficking or for organised crime.”

This is the second large grow house that the Proactive team has uncovered recently in Corby.

Last month, officers executing a warrant found 1,000 plants at a disused industrial unit in Cronin Road. An Albanian national was arrested at that factory.

Although this second factory is larger than the first, the setup was less sophisticated.