Police chief’s property used as cannabis farm

[Oz]

A police chief's own experience as a landlord has highlighted the drugs problem in the rental sector, after criminals turned his property into a cannabis factory.

 

Rod Jarman, a deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, had rented out the four-bedroom property which was his former home through an online letting agent.

 

The £400,000 property was then turned into a drugs emporium, growing thousands of super-strong ‘skunk’ plants.

 

Worried neighbours tipped off Mr Jarman after hearing strange noises coming from the house in Abridge, Essex.

 

When the police chief visited, he found plants and all the necessary equipment for growing the class B drug.

 

There were also signs that the house had been broken into, possibly by a rival drugs gang, with a machete found lying on the floor and a rear window smashed.

 

The criminals caused £48,000 of damage and ran up a £20,000 electricity bill for the heating needed to grow the cannabis.

 

The man who rented the property is understood to have given the letting agent proof of identity and bank details. He had a name common in China and Vietnam.

 

Mr Jarman said: “Despite 31 years’ experience of policing I didn’t see it coming. It is an absolutely awful thing for people to find their home has been destroyed for somebody else’s illegal gain.”

Author: N/A

Date: 00/01/2011

Source: http://www.rla.org.uk/landlord/newsletter/

Copyright: © RLAP Ltd 2011