After a series of raids on ‘pot farms’ operating in rented accommodation, one sited opposite a police station, Newham police have appealed to local landlords and residents to report suspected marijuana factories.

The appeal follows a recent success in the area when community police officers, acting on a report from a member of the public, noticed the pungent smell of cannabis coming from a property. A subsequent search found a pot factory with 400 to 500 cannabis plants, a hydroponic cultivation system, lighting equipment and chemicals.

‘This is a clear example of the effective partnership between the community constabulary and police officers in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in the borough’, said councillor Ian Corbett, Newham’s mayoral adviser for crime and anti-social behaviour.

Detective Superintendent Dave Anthony told Local London that any landlords who had been approached by prospective tenants offering to pay rent in cash for six months in advance should contact the police. ‘If members of the public notice anything unusual in their street they should do the same. We need as much help as we can get as dealing with this problem’.

Local newspapers have suggested Vietnamese gangsters are likely to be behind the 80 plus pot farms already discovered in rented accommodation across the borough. In these water and electricity supplies had been illegally diverted so as to avoid the costs of running the lighting and irrigation systems needed to grow the marijuana plants.

Police believe in some instances children have broken into the houses to steal pot for their own use or to sell on. And in response the criminals growing the crops have taken to booby trapping their growing rooms, sometimes by placing buckets full of acid on top of doors.

Newham is thought to be targeted by the pot growers because of the high volume of relatively cheap rented accommodation available.