Three cannabis factories found as police carry out 11 raids in East End

Three illicit cannabis factories have been busted by police carrying out 11 drug raids over two days in London’s East End.

Seven warrants were served on the first day on Bethnal Green’s Collingwood Estate alone, where cannabis production was discovered hidden in premises in Wickford Street.

Another four raids were carried on the Isle of Dogs which uncovered two cannabis factories, one on the Samuda Estate, the other at Bellamy Close.

Borough Police Commander Dave Stringer said: “We’ve been making great strides tackling drug dealing, as these raids show.”

One man was arrested and charged with possession with intent to supply class A cocaine and class B cannabis and is currently on remand awaiting trial.

The raids were carried out by a joint police task force with Tower Hamlets council set up in June with 19 officers and paid for out of Town Hall funds.

The task force has served 305 warrants so far, arrested 295 suspects and charged 271 with offences including possession, intent to supply and production and cultivating cannabis.

The operation has confiscated drugs worth £300,000 at street value. Successful prosecutions have resulted in a further £221,000 in cash and assets seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

It follows an earlier discovery of one of the biggest cannabis factories ever found, on the Isle of Dogs, where the yield from the plants would have had a street value more than £100,000.

The latest police operation has followed tip-offs which led to raids in Bethnal Green, Poplar and Bromley-by-Bow, at addresses in Brick Lane, Myrdle Street, Grove Hall, Stroudley Walk and the Aberfeldy and Collingwood estates.