UK Cannabis factories set up by foreign gangs doubled!

By: skip

UK Police busted more than 1,600 drug-growing sites last year – but insiders say this is only the tip of the iceberg of the illegal multi-million-pound industry.

Nearly 500 were discovered in London alone, as Labour examines plans to review the drug’s downgraded status.

The Sun discovered around 30 police forces nailed 1,632 cannabis factories last year – compared to 1,334 in 2006. In counties such as Notts, production has more than doubled.

In the past most cannabis was smuggled in from Africa, South America or Asia. But more than 60 per cent is now believed to come from large-scale factories in the UK.

The dealers – often from Vietnam – rent homes in quiet neighbourhoods and use illegal immigrants as “gardeners” for their crops, which are worth up to £100,000.

Cannabis was graded Class C in 2004, but Gordon Brown last year ordered a rethink due to evidence linking it to depression and destruction of short-term memory.

A report is expected to be published within days.

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