A huge cannabis farm was uncovered after officers tracked down a smell "plaguing" a busy shopping centre.
Merseyside Police has uncovered a large scale cannabis farm after officers hunted down a smell that had "plagued" Bootle Strand Shopping Centre. Officers from Merseyside Police's Sefton branch announced on their social media pages that the discovery was made on Saturday, July 9.
Officers from the South Sefton Community Team and Operation Pelican discovered the "large scale" cannabis farm on Stanley Road, Bootle. Operation Pelican is an ongoing police campaigned launched in 2017 to combat the drug trade and gang violence in Sefton.
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The farm is suspected to have run for a substantial period of time and was concealed above a business premises. The police claimed to have found the farm due to the pungent smell that carried into the shopping centre.
Officers attending the premises found multiple grow rooms with plants in varying stages of growth spanned over two floors. This resulted in the seizure of 426 cannabis plants and over two kilos of dried out cannabis ready for further distribution.
A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said: "This has taken a significant amount of cannabis from the streets and will hit the pockets of Organised Crime Groups. Operation Pelican will continue to disrupt serious and organised crime and should you have any information that may assist us with this please get in touch."
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