Grandmother Busts Drug Factory

A grandmother foiled cannabis-growing crooks after spotting what she thought were ordinary POT plants dumped near her home. Pensioner Christine Leaver thought a local garden centre had been burgled when she found more than 40 pots containing green-leafed plants dumped amid nettles near her Cardiff home.

But the 76-year-old’s discovery led officers to an expensively set up cannabis factory with more than 200 plants inside. ‘I’ve heard of cannabis but I’ve never seen it before,’ said Mrs Leaver, who has three daughters and seven grandchildren.

Local youths led police to an unoccupied house nearby from where they had helped crooks remove the pots. Inside, officers discovered a specially-adapted cannabis factory equipped with foil and heating. The discovery at the junction of Wedmore Road and Somerset Street in Grangetown, Cardiff, on Monday was only yards from the pensioner’s home.

Former laundry worker Mrs Weaver, who has lived in Somerset Street for 60 years, added: ‘I’m so shocked. I have lived here all this time. I can’t believe it. To be honest when I saw the plants I couldn’t make it out. I thought some garden centre had been burgled, and the nearest one is B&Q.’

Mystery still surrounds why the 45 plants in black plastic pots were hidden among the weeds. It is thought they had been dumped there some time after 10pm on Sunday and were found 12 hours later by Mrs Leaver. Officers believe the cannabis factory had been set up in the last six weeks but for some reason on Sunday night someone decided they wanted to get rid of some of the plants.

Local youths claimed they had helped move the plants from the house and identified a suspect as he walked past the house while it was being examined by police. Inspector Paul Arkontopoulos said: ‘We received information from the local community that some plant pots had been dumped in the area.

‘Officers attended, recovered them and spoke to local youths who identified an address as being the source of the plants. We see this as a positive step in cutting out drugs in Cardiff.’

One man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply drugs.