Green ‘grass’ of home

From the outside it looks like a normal suburban detached house. But inside police found it had been converted into a cannabis factory with more than 700 plants crammed into the rooms - one of the biggest drug-growing operations ever discovered in Herts.

The house at the bottom of Oakridge, a quiet cul-de-sac in Bricket Wood, was a highly organised 'hydroponics factory' cultivating the plants. It is estimated that the operation could have been making more than £30,000 a month.

When police raided the house at 10.30am today (Wednesday) they found five of the rooms were full of the plants. Each room was devoted to plants at different stages of development and were fitted with special lights and fans to create optimum growing conditions for the crop.

Sergeant Lynda Coates said: 'This is a very big find especially for this area.'

The police were tipped off by bailiffs and have arrested one person. People living near-by were startled to find the area crawling with police and had their electricity cut while officers assessed the situation.

A 39-year-old Vietnamese man is due to appear in court in connection with the cannabis farm.