1,249 cannabis plants seized in February raids across Essex
Essex Police executed 12 warrants across Essex during February 2025, seizing and destroying 1,249 cannabis plants worth an estimated 546,000 pounds from rented houses turned into grows. Thirteen people were arrested.
🇬🇧 Brentwood, Chelmsford, Chigwell, Canvey Island, Harwich, Grays, Great Wakering, Shoebury, Southend and Westcliff, Essex · United Kingdom
Arrested
13
Plants destroyed
1,249
Agencies
Essex Police, Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate
Essex Police carried out 12 warrants across the county in a coordinated series of strikes throughout February 2025, entering properties in Brentwood, Chelmsford, Chigwell, Canvey Island, Harwich, Grays, Great Wakering, Shoebury, Southend and Westcliff.[1][2]
Officers arrested thirteen people and seized 1,249 cannabis plants with an estimated value of 546,000 pounds, taking them to a secure location for destruction.[1][2]Several of the rented houses had been converted into large-scale grows, causing extensive damage to the properties.[1][2]
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cadd of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said the grows were substantial operations run by professionals to make money for organised crime gangs, not small personal grows.[1][2]
Photos and video
One of the cannabis farms discovered in Westcliff-on-Sea during the February raids.Photo details
Police Scotland raided a premises on Maitland Street in Tayport, Fife, on 12 November 2026 and found a cannabis cultivation with an estimated street value of up to £679,500. Two men, aged 41 and 37, were arrested and charged, and were due to appear at Dundee Sheriff Court on 13 November 2026.
Police Scotland carried out a drugs search warrant in Blair Street, Kelty, on the morning of 12 November 2026 and seized cannabis valued at £180,000. A 27-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman were arrested and charged in connection with drugs offences, and a report was to be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
Cumbria police raided three houses in Carlisle on 6 November 2026, recovering cannabis and more than £2,000 in cash at one Rydal Street address. A 60-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possessing cannabis with intent to supply and released under investigation; two men were cautioned after a small amount of cannabis and cocaine was found at another Rydal Street address.
West Midlands Police found a substantial amount of cannabis plants in two rooms of a property on Littleworth Avenue in Woodsetton, Dudley, during a drugs warrant on 6 November 2026. No arrests were made and the force said its investigation was continuing.
