On a quiet street in Bootle, two terraced houses were turned into cannabis farms - much to the surprise of neighbours.
Police uncovered illegal activity behind the closed doors on Wadham Road in Bootle in the space of ten minutes on April 21. It all started when two houses on the street fell empty and new neighbours moved in.
Residents were unaware of what was going on inside the unassuming homes until they saw police vans parked outside. The ECHO went down to Wadham Road this week to speak to people about the drugs factories that were found on their doorstep.
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One woman, who did not want to be named, told the ECHO one of the houses, which was in need of a major renovation, was bought by a man for around £75,000 around springtime last year. She said: "It was virtually derelict when he bought it, the floorboards were rotten.
"He was there every single day him and friends, doing lots of work on it and they put curtains up. They were here every day from the crack of dawn, they had skips here. They seemed like nice people."
When a neighbour approached the man about the possibility of renting the house, the woman said she was told he was selling it on. She said: "He disappeared before Christmas and then that was it."
The woman said she had no suspicions that drugs were being grown inside the property and after going to bed one night she woke up the next morning to police outside. Tom, 58, who asked to be referred to by his first name only, said he's lived in the same house on Wadham Road for 25 years and has seen how much it's changed.
Tom said it's not the first time cannabis farms have been found in the area but he was unaware of the raids that had taken place on April 21. Tom told the ECHO: "It always stinks when people walk past, this is a thoroughfare for most people.
"It always stinks, sometimes you can’t have the back window open. I’m shocked because the majority of people on street we know after being here for so long. We all know each other here so we look out for each other."
Despite having a close relationship with his neighbours, Tom said the area has become home to a more "transient" population due to houses being turned into HMOs. He added: "It’s very transient, it's one of most underprivileged wards in country and in Europe.
"This is almost the border with Liverpool and Sefton, we’re in that no man's land that’s created between the two divisions. I think that’s why we don’t see as many police, we certainly don’t see them on foot. We used to know the bobbies as kids growing up."
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said the only sign someone lived inside the house where the first cannabis farm was found was the sound of footsteps on the stairs around 2am. He said: "I never saw them, only at night did I hear someone in there.
"You could hear them going up and down the stairs. It was just quiet, there was no smell because it’s a westerly wind that blows this way and any smell would blow up the street."
The man said he wasn't surprised to hear two cannabis farms had been found on the street, adding "not these days". He said: "In general you’re seeing a lot of these goings on."
Another woman, who did not want to be named, said she didn't know about the cannabis farms that had been found on the road but there used to be a smell of cannabis in the area on a regular basis. She said: "A couple of years ago we had bad neighbours and they were smoking it all the time - they got turfed out, it was definitely over that. We've got lovely neighbours now.
"I feel sorry for the young kids of today, just in what's going on in the world today".
The first cannabis farm on Wadham Road was found spread across three floors inside one terraced house, containing around 200 plants. A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of cannabis production and abstracting electricity.
In an update this week, Merseyside Police said Nojus Mockevicius, 24, of Oronsay Road, Petersburn, Scotland, has since been charged with cannabis production and abstracting electricity. He was remanded into custody and was due to appear in court yesterday, Friday 20 May.
The raids on April 21 were made as part of Operation Pelican - a Merseyside Police campaign to tackle drug crime in North Liverpool and Sefton. A stolen moped was also seized from the rear of a house on the street and police soon uncovered a second cannabis farm at a different address on the road, containing 300 plants spread across three floors.
A wanted man was also spotted entering a house across the street by officers from the south Sefton community team and he was arrested to appear in court.
Matt Brown, who leads the cannabis dismantling team at Merseyside Police, has shared how you can spot signs of cannabis being grown near where you live can be found here. These include:
-Strange smells and sounds
- Frequent and varied visitors to a property, often at unusual times
- Gardening equipment being taken into a property, such as plant pots, fertiliser, fans and industrial lighting
- Windows are sealed and covered or the curtains are permanently closed
- Heat from an adjoining property
- Birds gathering on a roof in cold weather
Merseyside Police said individually these activities may seem commonplace, however, together may indicate something more suspicious.
Anyone with information on suspected drug production or criminal activity in their community can contact @MerPolCC, call 101 or come forward anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Always call 999 if a crime is in progress.
