POLICE smashed their way into a Sheffield cannabis factory and seized £84,000 of plants

POLICE smashed their way into a Sheffield cannabis factory and seized £84,000 of plants in their latest assault on professional and highly organised drugs gangs.

Eight officers, accompanied by The Star, raided a four-bedroom terraced house on Walkley Road, Walkley, yesterday afternoon.

They seized 210 plants and arrested a Vietnamese man - who was hiding in the loft - on suspicion of cultivating drugs.

Neighbours said he moved into the house with one other person a month ago.

Detective Inspector Bob Chapman, of the South Yorkshire Police intelligence unit, said: “They have only just got this factory going.

“In another month they would have twice as much cannabis growing - and if they know what they are doing they could grow three crops a year.

“That makes this house worth a potential £500,000 a year.”

Police officers were today searching for a woman they believe also lived in the house.

Forensic officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency were last night dismantling the sophisticated equipment at the property.

Two rooms were kitted out with sophisticated UV lights, dozens of fans, ventilation shafts and irrigation tubes, and were packed with young plants.

There was evidence three other rooms were ready to be converted for optimum growing conditions, with stacks of compost, pots and state-of-the-art lighting equipment.

In the bathroom huge bottles of liquid fertiliser and growing hormones were ready for mixing.

Only one room in the house was set aside for living, with a grimy mattress on the floor beside a small shrine and a television.

DI Chapman, whose team has raided 200 cannabis factories in Sheffield in the last year, said a large proportion were run by Vietnamese gangs.

“We are talking about organised gangs, operating from an epicentre in London,” he told The Star.

“They let out houses across the country in huge numbers, move in electricians to fit them out, and then install gardeners to tend the plants 24 hours a day.

“The gardeners are often illegal immigrants, moved from house to house to grow these crops.

“They maximise the growing space so the people who work for them live in these tiny spaces and rarely leave.”

He added: “The gangs expect to lose a number of houses to police raids or rival criminal gangs. But they accept those losses.”

He said it was extremely difficult to prosecute the people behind the factories.

“The problem is tracing these people because there is no record of them, no financial records - it’s a nightmare,” he said

Drug Task Force makes major marijuana bust

months-long investigation into a marijuana farming operation in the desert northwest of Veyo resulted in the arrest of 37 Mexican nationals suspected of helping to cultivate the drug field Saturday.

"This is the largest grow we have ever seen, relative to the number of people in the grow, in the state of Utah – ever," DEA Supervisory Special Agent Sue Thomas said.

Washington County Sheriff Cory Pulsipher said that even in the largest marijuana fields raided in previous years, usually only six to eight people were arrested.

As with previous marijuana farming operations, the suspects are believed to have ties to a transnational organization headquartered in Mexico, but this weekend's bust was unusual in that the suspects are not just low-level workers – managers who call the shots are believed to have been taken in the raid.


"It's a very successful operation ... in that we actively targeted upper-level members of the organization, ID¹d them and then apprehended them," Thomas said. "They're responsible for hiring the workers ... maintaining the workers ... supplying the site."

A press release issued by St. George Police Sgt. Johnny Heppler said some suspects may still be at large in the area and residents are advised to avoid picking up hitchhikers. Pulsipher said he saw two people flee during the incident, but he didn't know if they are still on the loose.

Anyone with information about possible fugitives tied to the marijuana farm should call the Washington County Sheriff's Office, or county dispatch at 435-634-5730.

Thomas said the suspects don't speak English and agents with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement were assisting with identifying the individuals Saturday.

"We've been working this investigation since before the summer of 2010," she said.

The farm site is believed to be related to at least three marijuana grows that were eradicated last year, and the transnational organization allegedly has bases in Nevada and Southern California.


While the number of plants at the location has not yet been determined, Thomas guessed it might be in the 10,000 to 15,000 range. During 2010, more than 100,000 marijuana plants were eradicated at 17 locations in Washington, Iron, Garfield and Wayne counties, resulting in 24 arrests.

 

Ronnie Dennis Whitaker, 21, is accused of possessing hashish — a sticky, thick and dark-colored resin made from marijuana

Ronnie Dennis Whitaker, 21, is accused of possessing hashish — a sticky, thick and dark-colored resin made from marijuana — and 2 ounces or less of marijuana.

He is scheduled for trial in October.

Possession of hashish is a Class 4 felony punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Possession of 2 ounces or less of marijuana is a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Islamabad police on Tuesday arrested four persons from various areas of the city and recovered 66 bottles of wine, 600 gram hashish and weapons from their possession

Islamabad police on Tuesday arrested four persons from various areas of the city and recovered 66 bottles of wine, 600 gram hashish and weapons from their possession, a police spokesman claimed.

On a tip off, Sub-Inspector Muhammad Yusuf from Aabpara police station arrested Javed Masih with 54 bottles of wine while ASI Ali Raza from Kohsar police station apprehended Yunus Masih with 12 bottles.

Inspector Muhammad Bashir from CIA police Islamabad nabbed a drug pusher Wajid Ali for having 600 gram hashish while ASI Ghulam Abbass from Golra police arrested an accused Tasawur Abbass for possessing 32 bore revolver.

Meanwhile, Sabzi Mandi police arrested two suspects during search operation in its area. SSP Islamabad Tahir Alam Khan has appreciated this performance and directed to further intensify vigilance against anti-social elements.

June 26 was the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

In case you missed it, June 26 was the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Afghanistan, the world's largest provider of opium poppy, did mark the occasion — with a bonfire.

Standing near an 11-ton mountain of seized opium, hashish and alcohol on the outskirts of Kabul, Gen. Baz Mohammad Ahmadi welcomed officials to the drug-burning ceremony.

Ahmadi, the country's deputy minister for counternarcotics, appealed for a strong international effort against narcotrafficking. He also asked for more cooperation from his own government on the issue.

Afghanistan's opium poppy turns up as heroin in cities across the world. It pumps billions of dollars into the Afghan economy and is rivaled only by the billions that come in as foreign aid money. As that aid money starts to shrink, the drug money may overwhelm attempts at a legitimate economy.

Ahmadi's plea comes after years of inconsistent policy in the international community. Past years saw an aggressive campaign to eradicate opium poppy, but more recently, efforts slowed down to keep from driving poor farmers into the arms of the Taliban. These days, many farmers decide year by year whether to grow poppy or legal crops.


EnlargeMajid Saeedi/Getty Images
An Afghan holds a bouquet of poppies near the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan.
'It's Right For Us To Grow Poppy'

Kahir, a farmer in Nangahar province, is one of those on the fence. A year ago, he was looking at a meager profit from raising cattle. Now, he's made about five times as much growing poppy on his small plot.

Kahir is worried that the government might eradicate his crops, so each year, he tries to see how serious the government is about enforcement. He also checks whether it's offering him any alternatives. He's heard about alternate crops, but nothing ever comes through.

"The government, when they lie to us, when they make a promise they do not deliver, and we feel the government has lied to us, then we feel it's right for us to grow poppy," Kahir says.

This year, a blight wiped out some of the poppy crop. That drove the price up a shocking 300 percent — meaning more farmers will be tempted to plant poppy next year.

The Economic Competition Is Leaving

Even as authorities set fire to Ahmadi's 11-ton mound of drugs, they were well aware that the economic factors sustaining the drug trade haven't changed for years. They also know one big change that's on the way.

The billions of drug dollars will probably remain constant. But the billions in aid money — the only inflow that comes anywhere near parity with the drug trade — is going away.

"If you're not careful, Afghanistan will become a narco-economy post-2014," says Jean Luc Lemahieu from the United Nations' counterdrug agency in Afghanistan.

He points out that if aid shrinks as expected, along with the American troop drawdown over the next three years, the illicit drug economy could become many, many times bigger than the legitimate economy. Lemahieu says the corruptive power of such money would virtually take over the Afghan state.

Despite the warnings, neither the Afghan government nor the international community has made tackling drugs a top priority, Lemahieu says. In fact, he adds, drugs didn't even make the list of Afghanistan's 22 top issues from last year's conference in Kabul of the Afghan government and donors.