Hanging-basket cannabis factory raided at Girton cottage
Police raided a cottage in Girton after a tip-off from a member of the public, seizing more than 400 skunk plants worth about £112,000, including over 70 plants growing in makeshift hanging baskets. A 28-year-old man was arrested.
Police raided a cottage in Girton at 8am after a tip-off from a member of the
public, seizing more than 400 skunk plants with a potential street value of
£112,000.[1]Officers found more than 70 plants growing in makeshift hanging
baskets suspended from ceilings in various rooms and in a secret bolthole built
from wood and plastic.[2][1]
Cambridgeshire police drugs expert PC Gavin Guy called the method experimental
and unlike anything he had seen: the baskets were made from bin liners with
holes cut in the sides so that plants could grow outwards in small spaces.[1]The neighbourhood policing team made the find, and a 28-year-old man was
arrested.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Neither article dates the raid itself; 12 November 2009 is inferred from the 13 November report that the discovery emerged the previous day, while a later account also describes a Thursday morning raid.
The two accounts differ on the seizure size: a later detailed account says more than 400 plants, while the earlier one says more than 100; the higher figure is used here and both give the same £112,000 value.
No court outcome for the arrested 28-year-old was published in the opened accounts.
No photograph of the Girton cottage crop with a recoverable direct image address was found in the opened sources.
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.
Cleveland Police raided a property in Thorpe Thewles near Stockton on 5 November 2026, finding nearly 400 cannabis plants valued at up to £335,000. Two men who fled were tracked by a police drone, arrested, and remanded in custody on charges of producing a Class B drug.
Greater Manchester Police officers found a cannabis farm of 49 plants and more than £25,000 in cash at a property on Stonesteads Way in Bromley Cross, Bolton, and arrested a 69-year-old woman. She was released on bail on suspicion of producing cannabis and abstracting electricity.
Staffordshire Police forced entry to a house on Buccleuch Road in Normacot, Stoke-on-Trent, on 4 November 2026 and seized more than 80 cannabis plants. A 42-year-old Stoke-on-Trent man was arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis and remained in custody for questioning.
